Parallel processing and image analysis in the eyes of mantis shrimps

The compound eyes of mantis shrimps, a group of tropical marine crustaceans , incorporate principles of serial and parallel processing of visual inform ation that may be applicable to artificial imaging systems. Their eyes incl ude numerous specializations for analysis of the spectral and polarizationa l properties of light, and include more photoreceptor classes for analysis of ultraviolet light, color, and polarization than occur in any other known visual system. This is possible because receptors in different regions of the eye are anatomically diverse and incorporate unusual structural feature s, such as spectral filters, not seen in other compound eyes. Unlike eyes o f most other animals, eyes of mantis shrimps must move to acquire some type s of visual information and to integrate color and polarization with spatia l vision. Information leaving the retina appears to be processed into numer ous parallel data streams leading into the central nervous system, greatly reducing the analytical requirements at higher levels. Many of these unusua l features of mantis shrimp vision may inspire new sensor designs for machi ne vision.