The Skin That Sees

The fourth morning, Chiara had a colour test. She put three plates on the tank floor. Red. Blue. Yellow.

Den fjerde morgen havde Chiara en farvetest. Hun lagde tre tallerkener på bunden af tanken. Rød. Blå. Gul.

Under one plate, a piece of shrimp was hidden. Today it was under the red plate.

Under en af tallerkenerne var et stykke rejer gemt. I dag var det under den røde tallerken.

"Octopuses are colour-blind," Chiara said. "Their eyes cannot tell colours apart."

"Blæksprutter er farveblinde," sagde Chiara. "Deres øjne kan ikke skelne mellem farver."

"But watch," she said.

"Men se nu," sagde hun.

Pasta uncurled. Two arms went out. They passed over the blue plate. They passed over the yellow plate. They stopped over the red plate. One arm lifted it. Pasta took the shrimp.

Pasta rullede sig ud. To arme strakte sig frem. De passerede over den blå tallerken. De passerede over den gule tallerken. De stoppede over den røde tallerken. En arm løftede den. Pasta tog rejen.

"She is not blind to colour," Chiara said. "But it is not her eyes that see it."

"Hun er ikke blind for farver," sagde Chiara. "Men det er ikke hendes øjne, der ser dem."

Scientists have learned that octopus skin can sense light. The same kind of cells that are in human eyes are in octopus skin. The skin can see colours.

Forskere har fundet ud af, at blæksprutters hud kan opfange lys. Den samme type celler, som findes i menneskers øjne, findes i blæksprutters hud. Huden kan se farver.

This is how a colour-blind animal can copy the colours of coral and sand. The eyes do not see the colours. The skin does.

Det er sådan, et farveblindt dyr kan efterligne farverne på koraller og sand. Øjnene ser ikke farverne. Huden gør.

Polly walked slowly along the rim of the tank. She had never thought about her own eyes. The idea that an animal could see with its skin was very strange.

Polly gik langsomt langs kanten af tanken. Hun havde aldrig tænkt over sine egne øjne. Tanken om, at et dyr kunne se med sin hud, var meget mærkelig.