Submitted by Beginning_Exam6255 t3_11s4pgr in askscience
My professor said that although it was commonly believed that different eyes like that of an octopus or a human’s were evolved separately but that recent research suggests that there was some kind of “ancestral eye”. Which theory is the most likely one?
Mad_Dizzle t1_jce3bfi wrote
As with a lot of things in evolutionary biology, the answer is probably both. Most life, from my understanding, responds to light. Whether that be to photosynthesize or to see, because the sun is the primary source of energy in our ecosystem. Eyes likely all come from a similar source that responded to light in an advantageous way. However, many eyes may have evolved separately, which could be why different animals can see different wavelengths of light.