Some people can see underwater

[le poisson chat]

Hello
It looks like even underwater vision can b trained thus opening to divers a great prospective.
I guess someone might have brought this to attention before, I found it fascinating:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/05/0514_040514_seagypsies.html
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/report-18492.html

I remember one friend of mine used to take off her mask underwater, she hoped that she'd be able to see there someday and I used to kid her for that). Looks like she senced smth could b done.
Marie Dacke there says that they do some study on children now, I wonder if grownups could b trained to see underwater as well.

cheers
dan

 

[naiad]

Very interesting. A thread which discusses underwater vision...

[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=50653"]Underwater vision[/ame]

The thing of the pupil constricting might explain something I have noticed. Sometimes I swim underwater without a mask (when I am brave about the chlorine :waterwork) and when it is a sunny day and the light is shining in the pool, my vision becomes much better. Maybe this is because the light causes the pupil to constrict.

Lucia

 

[le poisson chat]

Thanx for the link naiad, I guess i'll spend some time training my eyes its such a fun to dive without a mask, it gives me better feeling of water, not to mention enhanced diving reflex.

And this article in swedish http://theses.lub.lu.se/postgrad/se...dformat=display is written by the same researchers. Maybe somebody could translate what practically they propose to do in order to be able to see underwater?

 

[naiad]

That also reminds me... I used to work in the zoo and I noticed that the penguins and cormorants have unusually small pupils for their size. They have large eyes but the pupils are little points. I don't know whether this is because they can open much wider to see in the dark, or if the pupil is used for added focusing power. Most birds have very poor night vision, so I think it is more likely that they hunt during the day, and the small pupil has something to do with their aquatic habits.

 

[BatRay]

Interesting concept. I heard that peoples' eyes are not suited to seeing underwater because of their lenses. On the other hand, I was recently able to see pretty well underwater - not to fine detail, but well enough for it to be a lot of fun .