Cockroaches can see in near-darkness thanks to the many light-sensing cells in their eyes that pool a tiny number of light signals over space and time.
Matti Weckström and his colleagues at the University of Oulu, Finland, tested the behavioural responses of the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) to varying levels of light, using a virtual-reality system that displayed moving patterns (pictured). By recording from individual light-sensitive eye cells, they found that each photoreceptor receives only one photon every 10 seconds when light levels are equivalent to a moonless night, during which the animals could still see. This pooling probably occurs over thousands of photoreceptors in the eye, say the authors.
Further study might improve night-vision devices, they add.
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Cockroach night-vision. Nature 516, 146 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/516146a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/516146a
