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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Mary's Monday Metazoan: Eye of the gecko
Category: Organisms
Posted on: November 30, 2009 7:25 AM, by PZ Myers
Find more posts in: 
Life Science
Life ScienceTrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/126075
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Comments
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM
|
November 30, 2009 7:33 AM
oooh, pretty.
and for some reason, it makes me want to buy a turquoise pendant :-p
Posted by: madbull | November 30, 2009 7:43 AM
now how could that have evolved , by pure chance.. tch tch
Posted by: SEF | November 30, 2009 7:51 AM
The eye and the mouth! And the lovely scaly skin.
Nice critter.
Posted by: Tim Harris | November 30, 2009 7:59 AM
A beautiful eye. But in its making not beautiful for such as Brian Appleyard who has just published a pathetic and ignorant attack on PZM on his blog, which the indefatigable Andrew Sullivan has linked to, obviously because he agrees with it, although in the craven and irresponsible manner he adopts when he is out of his depth and knows that he hasn't got a leg to stand on he won't actually come out and say that he agrees with it. Come on Sullivan, if you have a disagreement, for God's (or whoever's) sake have the guts to come out and state it, instead of indulging in this pitiful sniping under the cover of others' words.
Posted by: Graham Gottingduck | November 30, 2009 8:08 AM
Does anyone know why its pupil is o-o-o shaped?
Posted by: Zeno | November 30, 2009 8:15 AM
Must. Buy. Car. Insurance.
Posted by: randombloke | November 30, 2009 8:16 AM
Easy: It couldn't![/rebuttal] I don't know for sure, why it's that specific shape, but I do know that pupils are formed by tearing the pre-natal iris which forms as a solid disc of muscle. The shape of the tear is governed by the muscular arrangement in the iris. No idea if there's any evolutionary significance to tat barred shape though.Posted by: DLC
|
November 30, 2009 8:28 AM
But, that spherical construction! I can't draw a circle that good, so it must be Design!
Posted by: Ol'Greg | November 30, 2009 8:29 AM
Wow the colors in that picture are so amazing! I didn't know they had eyes that color ever.
Posted by: madbull | November 30, 2009 8:46 AM
PZ give us some info along with these pics, they fill me with wonder
Posted by: Copernicus | November 30, 2009 8:54 AM
A beautiful shot of the Large Forest (or Smith's) Gecko, Gekko smithii, found throughout Singapore, Malaysia, and Borneo/Java... I think... (species not range!)
Large Forest Gecko
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | November 30, 2009 9:04 AM
Because it's almost closed. Most geckos are nocturnal.
Posted by: The Tim Channel
|
November 30, 2009 9:09 AM
Jesus, along with a handful of dead cops, would still be alive if Huckabee had kept him in jail where he belonged.
http://thetimchannel.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/omg-they-killed-jesus/
Enjoy.
Posted by: Lilith | November 30, 2009 9:13 AM
Excuse me, little gecko, but is that a small planet in your eye?
Posted by: Aratina Cage
|
November 30, 2009 9:17 AM
Yup. I just did :)Posted by: DaveX | November 30, 2009 9:23 AM
BEST. TRACKBALL. EVER.
Posted by: Knut-Sverre | November 30, 2009 9:28 AM
PZ,
Why don't you give the photographers due credit when you post pictures from NGM?
I know, its just one click away, but still... a little generosity on your part would be nice!
Posted by: Copernicus | November 30, 2009 10:31 AM
Hey Graham, David M., et al.
This gecko has multifocal vision (similar to small cats) and the split allows for use of the full diameter of the lens under multiple lighting conditions.
The following may give you some more information- I hope you find it useful:
Malmström, T. and Kröger, R.H.H. (2006) Pupil shapes and lens optics in the eyes of terrestrial vertebrates. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 209, 18-25
Roth, L.S.V., Lundström, L., Kelber, A., Kröger, R.H.H., and Unsbo, P. (2009) The pupils and optical systems of gecko eyes. Journal of Vision, 9 (3)1-11
Posted by: Dawn | November 30, 2009 10:31 AM
@Knut-Sverre: if I hover over the picture the link clearly states it is from NGM. I don't even need to click on the picture.
Posted by: Glen Davidson
|
November 30, 2009 10:54 AM
Veined turquoise orb stuck in a lizard's head.
Yeah, tell me that evolved.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Posted by: becca | November 30, 2009 11:00 AM
Soooo pretty!
I want a glass orb that looks like that for my desk.
Posted by: DiscomBob | November 30, 2009 11:06 AM
Wow, that's pretty.
Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites
|
November 30, 2009 11:13 AM
Wasn't this a song by the Payola$?
Posted by: sidhe
|
November 30, 2009 11:33 AM
Oooh, a gecko! I love geckos! The ones that live by my house are cute but they are not as shiny and pretty as this one. I agree with madbull @ 10--these pictures fill me with wonder, too. Have a good day, all!
Posted by: Ron Sullivan | November 30, 2009 11:37 AM
Lovely.
Posted by: Rebecca C. | November 30, 2009 11:48 AM
I think I see the Virgin Mary in that eye...
Posted by: Knut-Sverre | November 30, 2009 12:05 PM
@Dawn #19:
That depends on your browser. It doesn't work with either Safari or Opera on the iMac i use right now. And that's beside the point anyway. The photographer's name should be clearly visible without any mousehovering. Here in Norway, this would actually be violating the copyright law.
Posted by: Copernicus | November 30, 2009 12:50 PM
@Knut #27
To avoid confusion, here is the credit:
this was an entry in the 2009 National Geographic International Phtography Contest and was submitted by photographer Anke Seidlitz, titled "Smith’s Green-Eyed Gecko".
Her caption reads:
Problem solved...
Posted by: Puxapuak
|
November 30, 2009 12:51 PM
Woah. For a second there I thought my monitor had turned into a mirror.
Posted by: Lancet | November 30, 2009 12:53 PM
Wow. That's totally beautiful :-)
Forwarded to my friend's boyfriend (herp breeder).
Posted by: skylyre
|
November 30, 2009 1:28 PM
@ Lilith
I was soooo thinking the same thing! It looks like the surface is covered in ice, like Enceladus, and then there is a huge, cavernous, ridgey crater-like thing taking up 1/3 of it. Like some huge object smashed into it, almost obliterating it, but instead left behind that beast of an impact site.
Maybe I've been reading Phil's blog too much..
Posted by: Rick Mcwilliams | November 30, 2009 1:47 PM
There is something about a gecko that causes positive feelings. These creatures seem to always have a smile and move with a happy gait. I have seen many of these lizards in Mexico. They were a pretty green variety.
One showed up on my boat in the marina. It was an ususual pure white geko with lovely gold eyes. He matched the color of the superstructure of my boat perfectly. I was soon to head north and did not want to have him perish with the climate change. I tried to catch him twice without success. I hope that he left in the night, he was never seen when we put to sea.
Posted by: Aunt Benjy | November 30, 2009 2:59 PM
Just beautiful. Thanks.
Posted by: Cath the Canberra Cook
|
November 30, 2009 4:45 PM
Wow, that is gorgeous.
Posted by: cicely (Inadvertent Phytocidal Maniac)
|
November 30, 2009 5:04 PM
Chrysocolla. Pretty.
Posted by: kiki | November 30, 2009 6:51 PM
Wow. Its eye looks like a jewel.
Posted by: Copernicus | November 30, 2009 6:54 PM
and just to clarify on the pinholes in the stenopeic pupil (vertical slit): because of the reflected light on the top of the eye in the photo, it appears o-o-o but in fact there is a fourth pinhole, so o-o-o-o (the daytime default) would be more accurate...
There is some debate as to what function the pinholes actually have. One theory is that some predators "key in" on regular circular pupils, so this could be a camouflage technique; other research suggests "the four pinhole apertures of the constricted gekko pupil are an adaptation for decreasing the depth of field of the eye, while decreasing the total light flux to the retina... this may be useful for distance estimation at high light levels."*
*Murphy, C. J., and Howland, H. C. (1986). On the gekko pupil and Scheiner's disc. Vision Research, 26, 815–817
Posted by: Blair | November 30, 2009 7:08 PM
I had a teacher with eyes like that...
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | November 30, 2009 9:54 PM
Eye of gecko
Toe of Frog
While dandy
On their own
Make me feel
More kin to Dog.
Posted by: Silič O'Nopolitanopoulos, Färschdbischuf Beesknees aus Ulm und Klein Elguth, Elector Pharynguline.
|
November 30, 2009 10:52 PM
Not quite a grain of dust suspended in a sunbeam, but a pale blue dot, nonetheless.
Posted by: Loki | December 1, 2009 2:15 AM
Science shows us the minutiae that religious misses wholesale. To truly appreciate the beauty of the world, one must attempt to understand it.
I want to know why the eye is shaped as such, why the iris is like it is, what advantage the pigmentation grants the organism.
PZ, links to assist my curiosity please? Thanks :D
Posted by: Graham Gottingduck | December 1, 2009 2:48 AM
Copernicus, thanks for all the info. All I can say is that it's damn cool. (I've got some background in graphics and optics so you can imagine that it intrigues me greatly.) And you're right, now I look closely, there does appear to be another - leading to the glimmer that presumably conceals another o.
Posted by: mythusmage
|
December 1, 2009 7:35 AM
Is that gecko English or Australian?
Posted by: Copernicus | December 1, 2009 7:44 AM
@Loki #41
In addition to the links and information I posted at #18 and #37, you may want to take a look at the links below.
Gecko vision: "Gecko Vision": Key to the Multifocal Contact Lens of the Future? The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology press release, May 11, 2009
Eye camouflage and "texture": Mike Fry, MFA grad student, Savannah College of Art & Design
Posted by: Copernicus | December 1, 2009 7:56 AM
@mythusmage #43
see my comment at #11
southern Thailand (Satun, Narathiwatk Pattani), Singapore, western Malaysia (Pulau Pinang, Perak, Pahang, Selangor, Pulau Tioman), Myanmar (formerly Burma), India (Nicobar Islands), Indonesia (Borneo, Sumatra, Pulau Nias, Java)
Reptile Database, JCVI*
*The J. Craig Venter Institute was formed through the merger of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), The Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG), The J. Craig Venter Science Foundation, The Joint Technology Center, and the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives (IBEA).
Posted by: Coprenicus | December 1, 2009 9:04 AM
@Crudely Wrott #39:
Dear Crudely Wrott, I sense your awe
In such a lively fellow,
On ceilings, walls, and under eaves
Like glue it sticks, that gecko.
The world reflected in it’s eye,
It’s pupil multifocal,
The Javanese call it tokek
Because it is so vocal.
Two thousand species at last count-
We’re sure to find some more,
For nighttime is their favorite post
When we spend time indoors.
Within it's eye we'll find a clue
To help us with our sight,
It’s footpads’ setae may improve
An astronaut’s spaceflight.
But one thing that we know for sure,
The move from day to night
Exemplifies the natural move
Of rods to cones for sight.
Posted by: Crux Australis | December 1, 2009 3:19 PM
ALL HAIL HYPNOGECKO!!!!!
Posted by: JakeH
|
March 31, 2010 8:45 AM
Its elliptical pupil is tell tale nocturnal, and being like that and can open up pretty much fully to the edges of its eye, most geckos have no eyelid so one reason its eye is o-o-o so when its fully closed it can still allow a tiny amount of light in but the pin head sized holes focus the tiny amounts of light to the same point so it gets a clear image in bright light, allowing it to sleep and see predators.
Tokay geckos have 4 points and an equally amazing eye.
And it is design, though the same gene is used in every creature with an eye, circumstance and habitat crate it what it is. not god lol...