The Skin That Sees

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

Četvrtog jutra, Chiara je imala test s bojama. Stavila je tri tanjura na dno akvarija. Crveni. Plavi. Žuti.

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

Ispod jednog tanjura, bio je skriven komadić škampi. Danas je bio ispod crvenog tanjura.

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

"Hobotnice su daltonisti," rekla je Chiara. "Njihove oči ne mogu razlikovati boje."

"But watch," she said.

"Ali gledaj," rekla je.

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 se ispružila. Dva kraka su se pružila naprijed. Prošli su iznad plavog tanjura. Prošli su iznad žutog tanjura. Zaustavili su se iznad crvenog tanjura. Jedan krak ga je podigao. Pasta je uzela škampu.

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

"Ona nije slijepa na boje," rekla je Chiara. "Ali to nisu njezine oči koje ih vide."

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.

Znanstvenici su otkrili da hobotničina koža može osjetiti svjetlost. Ista vrsta stanica koje su u ljudskim očima nalazi se i u hobotničinoj koži. Koža može vidjeti boje.

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.

Tako životinja koja ne vidi boje očima može oponašati boje koralja i pijeska. Oči ne vide boje. Koža ih vidi.

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 je polako hodala uz rub akvarija. Nikad nije razmišljala o svojim očima. Ideja da životinja može vidjeti svojom kožom bila je vrlo čudna.