While people and other vertebrates are color blind in dim light, some deep-sea fish may possess keen color vision to thrive in the near total darkness of their extreme environment thanks to a unique genetic adaptation, scientists said on Thursday.
Researchers analyzed the genomes of 101 fish species and found that three lineages of deep-sea fish, living up to about a mile (1,500 meters) below the surface, boast a specialized visual system to allow for color vision in inky blackness.
Having acute vision could provide tremendous advantages to these fish as they search for food and mates and try to avoid becoming another creature's dinner in the exotic dark world of the ocean depths, the planet's largest habitat.