Scallops see with mirrors

The bright blue eyes lining a scallop’s mantle — Matthew Krummins / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Original photograph resized.

Scallops can have up to 200 of them. Each eye focuses light with a curved mirror made from tiny crystals, rather like a miniature reflecting telescope.

A whole scallop with its shell open and eyes around the mantle — Ceri Jones / Haven Diving Services, via Weizmann Institute of Science.

A seashell with its own array of mirrors.

Microscope views of the square guanine crystals that tile a scallop’s eye mirror — Palmer and collaborators / Weizmann Institute of Science; original research figure and scale bars retained.

Those blue dots are eyes.
Scallops can have up to 200 of them. Each eye focuses light with a curved mirror made from tiny crystals, rather like a miniature reflecting telescope.
A seashell with its own array of mirrors.

Scallops see with mirrors

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