14 DAY TRIAL // According to the results of a new research, it would appear that certain species of crabs living deep under the surface of the ocean are very sensitive to blue and ultraviolet wavelengths. The creatures may even be color-coding their food, investigators say.
The research, led by experts at the Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center, suggests that the mechanism evolved in response to the fact that these creatures live in complete darkness. Sunlight never makes it into the deep sea, Science Blog reports.
Details of the research appear in the September 6 issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology.
The team arrived at this conclusion after shining light at various wavelengths towards the crabs, and measuring how their eyes responded to the stimuli. However, more work is needed to verify this discovery.