Giant and colossal deep-sea squid (Architeuthis and Mesonychoteuthis) have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom [1, 2], but there is no explanation for why they would need eyes that are nearly three times the diameter of those of any other extant animal. Here we develop a theory for visual detection in pelagic habitats, which predicts that such giant eyes are unlikely to evolve for detecting mates or prey at long distance but are instead uniquely suited for detecting very large predators, such as sperm whales. We also provide photographic documentation of an eyeball of about 27 cm with a 9 cm pupil in a giant squid, and we predict that, below 600 m depth, it would allow detection of sperm whales at distances exceeding 120 m. With this long range of vision, giant squid get an early warning of approaching sperm whales. Because the sonar range of sperm whales exceeds 120 m [3-5], we hypothesize that a well-prepared and powerful evasive response to hunting sperm whales may have driven the evolution of huge dimensions in both eyes and bodies of giant and colossal squid. Our theory also provides insights into the vision of Mesozoic ichthyosaurs with unusually large eyes.
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机译：巨大而巨大的深海乌贼（Architeuthis和Mesonychoteuthis）在动物界中拥有最大的眼睛[1，2]，但是没有解释为什么他们需要的眼睛的直径是其他任何动物的三倍。动物。在这里，我们开发了一种在远洋栖息地中进行视觉检测的理论，该理论预测，这种巨眼不太可能演变成用于在远距离检测配偶或猎物，而是特别适合于检测非常大的捕食者，例如抹香鲸。我们还提供了约27厘米眼球和9厘米瞳孔在大鱿鱼中的摄影记录，并且我们预测，在深度小于600 m的情况下，它可以检测到超过120 m的抹香鲸。凭借如此长远的视野，巨型鱿鱼可得到接近抹香鲸的预警。因为抹香鲸的声纳范围超过120 m [3-5]，所以我们假设对捕猎抹香鲸的准备充分而有力的回避反应可能推动了巨大而巨大的乌贼的眼睛和身体中巨大尺寸的进化。我们的理论还为中生鱼眼镜头大眼睛的视觉提供了见解。
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