Squid eyes are the size of dinner plates

Seriously, some squid eyeballs are as big as your plate. What's up with that?

By Smartasaurus· 1 min read Curious

thousands of feet below the ocean surface

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The short version

Seriously, some squid eyeballs are as big as your plate. What's up with that?
By detecting the faint glow of plankton as a whale swims through them, the squid can see the silhouette of its only predator from over 400 feet awa…
Interestingly, the squid's brain is shaped like a donut, and its esophagus passes directly through the center.

The colossal squid lives in total darkness, so it evolved eyes the size of standard soccer balls. Measuring up to 11 inches across, these are the largest eyes ever documented in the animal kingdom.

These massive orbs aren't for seeing detail; they are designed to detect light. Specifically, they are tuned to spot the movement of bioluminescent organisms disturbed by a nearby sperm whale.

By detecting the faint glow of plankton as a whale swims through them, the squid can see the silhouette of its only predator from over 400 feet away in the pitch black.

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