Matilda's LabIt turns out that humans weren't the first species to invent fibre optics. Cockles use them to bring light inside their shells to feed their symbiotic algae.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-53110-x
#symbiosis #cockles #fibreoptics #biology #science #scicomm
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-53110-x
#symbiosis #cockles #fibreoptics #biology #science #scicomm
Heart cockle shells transmit sunlight to photosymbiotic algae using bundled fiber optic cables and condensing lenses - Nature Communications
Some bivalves have evolved photosynthetic symbioses. Here, the authors show that heart cockles transmit light through their upper shell to internal photosynthetic symbionts, using mineral fiber optic cables to maximize light transmission.