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Published online 10 January 2005 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news050110-2
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Swordfish heat their eyes for better vision
Warm eyeballs allow them to see prey faster in the murky depths.
Zoologists have answered the intriguing question of why swordfish keep their eyes warm while the rest of the body remains resolutely cold-blooded: it's all the better to see their prey with.
Heat-assisted eyes work more than ten times faster than those cooled to the coldest deep-sea temperatures of around 3 ºC, report Kerstin Fritsches of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and her colleagues.
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