Scientists discovered the ancient eyes

The eye belonged to the trilobite — an extinct bespozvonochnoe the creature that lived in the seas of the Paleozoic era.

An international group of scientists has discovered the fossilized remains of eyes, the age of which is 530 million years old. The article is devoted to the discovery, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. About it reported in a press release on the website Phys.org.

The eye belonged to the trilobite — an extinct bespozvonochnoe the creature that lived in the seas of the Paleozoic era (541-251 million years ago). Its structure is reminiscent of the compound eyes of insects, scientists have found that the body was a primitive version of the compound eyes, consisting of bundles of light — sensitive cells ommatidium. However, over 500 million years, these structures have changed little.

The fossil was partially erased, which allowed researchers to study its structure. In the eye of the trilobite was about 100 ommatidia. However, there was no outer lens (lenses) characteristic of modern insects. The animal had poor eyesight, but he could see the obstacles and predators in its path.

According to the researchers, this petrified eyes is the most ancient of those that can be found, because earlier organisms did not have hard shells that could survive.

paradox