BALTIMORE, MD (July 3, 2014)
In an unexpected discovery, researchers from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have found that the complex eyes of mantis shrimp are equipped with optics that generate ultraviolet (UV) color vision. Mantis shrimp's six UV photoreceptors pick up on different colors within the UV spectrum based on filters made from an ingredient other animals depend on as built-in biological sunscreen, according to research reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on July 3.