Environment and development in coastal regions and in small islands

Report by Anna Gislén¹, Marie Dacke¹, Ronald H.H. Kröger¹, Maths Abrahamsson², Dan-Eric Nilsson¹, and Eric J. Warrant¹

Humans are poorly adapted for underwater vision. In air, the curved corneal surface accounts for two-thirds of the eye's refractive power, and this is lost when air is replaced by water [1]. Despite this, some tribes of sea gypsies in Southeast Asia live off the sea, and the children collect food from the sea floor without the use of visual aids [2]. This is a remarkable feat when one considers that the human eye is not focused underwater and small objects should remain unresolved. We have measured the visual acuity of children in a sea gypsy population, the Moken, and found that the children see much better underwater than one might expect. Their underwater acuity (6.06 cycles/degree) is more than twice as good as that of European children (2.95 cycles/degree). Our investigations show that the Moken children achieve their superior underwater vision by maximally constricting the pupil (1.96 mm compared to 2.50 mm in European children) and by accommodating to the known limit of human performance (15–16 D) [3]. This extreme reaction—which is routine in Moken children—is completely absent in European children. Because they are completely dependent on the sea, the Moken are very likely to derive great benefit from this strategy.

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¹ Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Zoology Building, Lund University, Helgonavägen 3, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden
² Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, SU/Mölndal, S-431 80 Mölndal, Sweden

Correspondence:
Anna Gislén
+46 46 2229340 (phone)
+46 46 2224425 (fax)
anna.gislen@cob.lu.se

For the table of contents and more details see the Current Biology website

Source: Copyright ©2003 Cell Press. Current Biology, Vol 13, 833-836, 13 May 2003