Weird Animal Has a Suit of Armor with Hundreds of Eyes Built In

A certain mollusk may actually have most of its eyes on its shell. Researchers have discovered that the armored shells of some marine mollusks possess many eyes, which could inspire advances in the design of multifunctional materials, such as lightweight armor with sensory capabilities.

Although many biological tissues serve more than one purpose, rarely are tissues optimized to do multiple tasks well; doing one task efficiently typically comes at the expense of performing another at such a high level. Understanding these tradeoffs is particularly important when it comes to developing innovative materials.

In this latest study, the researchers studied chitons, which are the only mollusks with living tissue in their hard shells. Specifically, the scientists studied the chiton Acanthopleura granulate, which has eyes with mineral-based lenses dispersed across its spikey shell armor.

Recent studies have actually suggested that this chiton species may be capable of spatial vision. Researchers performed optical experiments on individual isolated chiton eyes in the shell to demonstrate that these huge microscopic lenses are able to form images, or "see." This allows the chitons to visualize and quickly respond to approaching predators; for example, the animals clamp to the substrate below them so that they can't be dislodged from it.

The findings reveal that as the size and complexity of individual chiton eyes increases, the local mechanical performance of armor decreases. This highlights the trade-off between the two tasks.

The findings reveal a bit more about this unusual animal. More specifically, it shows how one material can, in theory, be multipurpose.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

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