A scorpion's body serves as a basic eye

Scorpions don't need to use their eyes to get a full picture of their surroundings: their body seems to function as a basic eye under ultraviolet light.

To test the idea that the waxy cuticle covering a scorpion's body can detect light, Doug Gaffin of the University of Oklahoma in Norman exposed 40 of the arachnids to visible or UV light. He studied their behaviour both with and without "eye-blocks" ? pieces of foil placed over their eyes to act like opaque glasses.

Wearing their shades, the scorpions did not move around much when illuminated by green light. But under UV light they scuttled around freely with or without the glasses, suggesting they did not rely on their eyes to see. The larva of the fruit fly is thought to be the only other creature whose body can detect light.

Carl Kloock at California State University in Bakersfield says the idea complements his own work. He found that the ability of scorpions' cuticles to fluoresce in UV light affects their behaviour at night, since moonlight contains a modest amount of UV.

Journal reference: Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.11.014

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