Eyes of baby crabs could inspire new materials, say Swiss scientists
Crabs are even more intriguing than we think.
Keystone / Str
Crab larvae make their eyes invisible with reflectors made of a previously unknown material, an international study with Swiss participation has found.
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The photonic glass discovered on the eyes of the larvae should serve as inspiration for new materials in the future, they wrote in the studyExternal link published on Thursday.
“Materials in which such photonic glass could be used range from sustainable paints or coatings to more efficient solar panels,” co-author Lukas Schertel of Fribourg University told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA. In order to develop such new materials by imitating nature, he said it was important to study how these creatures hide.
Many oceanic prey animals use transparent bodies to avoid detection, says the report. But conspicuous eye pigments, required for vision, compromise their ability to stay hidden. The larvae’s strategy for camouflaging its eye pigments is that they are coated with a glittering film – photonic structures that reflect light according to the colour of the surrounding water.
Scientists found a previously unknown type of photonic glass around the dark eye pigments. The crabs can change the size and arrangement of these nanospheres.
This allows them to adjust the reflected colour – from deep blue to yellow. In this way, the animals are able to remain hidden in different habitats and at different times of day.
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