Fly's eye. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a fly's (order Diptera) compound eye. The eye is made up of numerous visual units, known as

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Fly's eye. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a fly's (order Diptera) compound eye. The eye is made up of numerous visual units, known as ommatidia. Each ommatidium consists of an outer cuticle covering a lens, beneath which is a group of light-sensitive cells known as the retinula. Nerve fibres from the retinula converge onto the optic nerve, relaying visual signals to the brain. The image seen by a fly is thought to be a mosaic image, poorly focused but good at detecting movements.

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Size: 2894px × 3858px
Photo credit: © SUSUMU NISHINAGA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: anatomical, anatomy, biological, biology, coloured, compound, cuticle, diptera, eye, false-colour, false-coloured, fly, image, images, insect, insecta, invertebrate, invertebrates, lens, lenses, light-sensitive, mosaic, ommatidia, ommatidium, optic, optics, organ, retinula, sem, sense, sensory, sight, unit, units, vision, visual, zoological, zoology