Supersized Squid Eyes Likely Evolved to See Whales

A giant squid’s soccer ball-sized eyeballs are three times wider than any other animal’s, but explaining why has kept squid researchers busy.

New dissections and computer models offer a lead in the mystery: The enormous peepers evolved to see bioluminescent trails of light left by sperm whales, the squids’ great predator.

Sperm whales can’t make sharp turns when diving for food. They have to rely on the prey being unaware it’s approaching, said biologist Dan-Eric Nilsson of Lund University. Nilsson’s study was published 15 March in Current Biology — via redwolf.newsvine.com