Megalodoodle Posted July 29, 2022 Share Posted July 29, 2022 I’m currently working on a secret paleo-recreation project and was wondering whether Eurypterids (sea scorpions), specifically of the suborder Eurypterina, had 360 degrees of eyesight (like modern flies) due to compound eyes? If not, then could they move their eyes independently of one another? Or in other words, could sea scorpions move their eyes to look in two different directions at once? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusty_Crab Posted July 29, 2022 Share Posted July 29, 2022 (edited) Eurypterids, like many other arthropods, perceived visual senses through a combination of ocelli (simple eyes) and compound eyes. These are quite different from vertebrate eyes and do not move in the way that our eyes move. It would be difficult to even speculate as to how they would perceive their visual surroundings in terms of how we perceive things, since they would do so through 2 different sensory apparatuses, and their eyes are so very different from the morphology of vertebrate eyes. Here is what the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part P, Arhropoda 2, Chelicerata, page P24 has to say about subclass Eurypterida: "The prosoma is moderately convex, with a subquadratic, subtriangular to semicircular outline. A pair of median ocelli, which may be mounted on a node (Fig. 19,3d; 21,la; 29,3a), is generally situated on the highest part of the prosoma. The lateral compound eyes have a marginal to subcentral or anterior position. The eyes vary considerably in size and shape. The large eyes of the Pterygotidae (Fig. 19,2; 22, 1a,2a,3a) have an elliptical outline. In most eurypterids, the eyes are kidneyshaped, and in some strongly curved (Stylonuracea, Fig. 27,1,2b,3a,4a,6b,7b), with the more or less steep visual surface facing outward and forward. Small eyes are found in Mixopterus (Fig. 25A). The visual surface is composed of numerous closely set pits representing the individual facets, visible in Pterygotus (Fig. 19,2) and some species of Hughmilleria." Edited July 29, 2022 by Crusty_Crab 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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