From Newsgroup: talk.origins


https://le.ac.uk/news/2026/january/ancient-fossils-vertebrates-four-eyes

Remarkably preserved fossils show that the earliest
vertebrates could see the world using four camera-type
eyes, reshaping our understanding of how vision evolved.

A new study by an international team of researchers,
including a University of Leicester palaeontologist,
reveals that the earliest known vertebrates, living
more than 518 million years ago, possessed four eyes,
not two.
...
The fossil vertebrates known as myllokunmingids, were
discovered in the famous Chengjiang fossil beds of
southern China. Careful microscopic and chemical
analyses revealed that these animals had two large
lateral eyes and two smaller, centrally positioned eyes.
All four eyes were similar to modern camera-type eyes.
...
Today, vertebrates see mainly using two eyes. A
structure deep in the brain rCo the pineal gland rCo helps
regulate sleep by responding to light and producing
melatonin. In some fish, amphibians, and reptiles, it
can still detect light and is sometimes called a
rCythird eyerCO.

This new study shows that in the earliest vertebrates,
the pineal complex was not a simple light sensor rCo it
was a pair of well-developed eyes capable of imaging
the world.

Cong rCLWhat werCOre seeing is that the pineal organs began
as image-forming eyes,rCY said.

rCLOnly later in evolution did they shrink, lose visual
power, and take on their modern role in regulating sleep.rCY
...
During the Cambrian period, the oceans were a dangerous
place. Large predators were emerging, while early
vertebrates were small, soft-bodied, and vulnerable.

Dr Jakob Vinther of the University of Bristol and one
of the team said: rCLIn that environment having four eyes
may have given these animals a wider field of view rCo
important to avoid predators.rCY
...


https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09966-0
January 2026
Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates
from the Cambrian Period




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From Newsgroup: talk.origins

On 2/17/2026 9:55 PM, Pro Plyd wrote:

https://le.ac.uk/news/2026/january/ancient-fossils-vertebrates-four-eyes

Remarkably preserved fossils show that the earliest
vertebrates could see the world using four camera-type
eyes, reshaping our understanding of how vision evolved.

A new study by an international team of researchers,
including a University of Leicester palaeontologist,
reveals that the earliest known vertebrates, living
more than 518 million years ago, possessed four eyes,
not two.
...
The fossil vertebrates known as myllokunmingids, were
discovered in the famous Chengjiang fossil beds of
southern China. Careful microscopic and chemical
analyses revealed that these animals had two large
lateral eyes and two smaller, centrally positioned eyes.
All four eyes were similar to modern camera-type eyes.
...
Today, vertebrates see mainly using two eyes. A
structure deep in the brain rCo the pineal gland rCo helps
regulate sleep by responding to light and producing
melatonin. In some fish, amphibians, and reptiles, it
can still detect light and is sometimes called a
rCythird eyerCO.

This new study shows that in the earliest vertebrates,
the pineal complex was not a simple light sensor rCo it
was a pair of well-developed eyes capable of imaging
the world.

Cong rCLWhat werCOre seeing is that the pineal organs began
as image-forming eyes,rCY said.

rCLOnly later in evolution did they shrink, lose visual
power, and take on their modern role in regulating sleep.rCY
...
During the Cambrian period, the oceans were a dangerous
place. Large predators were emerging, while early
vertebrates were small, soft-bodied, and vulnerable.

Dr Jakob Vinther of the University of Bristol and one
of the team said: rCLIn that environment having four eyes
may have given these animals a wider field of view rCo
important to avoid predators.rCY
...

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09966-0
January 2026
Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates
from the Cambrian Period

Some extant jawless fish have rudimentary eyes, but it is believed that
they have degenerate eyes and that the vertebrate eye may have evolved
before the R1 whole genome duplication event that all extant jawless
fish have in common. Jawless fish have the light sensing pineal eye. Mylokunmingids may have existed before the common ancestor of extant
jawless fish. The second set of eyes would need to have the brains to
process images. The eyes and brain parts would need to have been
duplicated and remain functional. My guess is that this duplication was
never fully functional, and the pineal eye evolved as a light sensing degeneration of the second set of eyes that likely were not fully
functional in terms of the animal being able to process images as well
as with larger lateral set of eyes. Mylokunmingids were likely already
on the path of degeneration of the second set of eyes into just a light sensing units. What kind of images could eyes so much smaller than the lateral set be able to see? the images would need the brain power to be processed and acted upon.

Ron Okimoto

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