Have you ever wondered which animal has the most eyes? I know I have so I decided to find out and what I discovered shocked even me. If you think you have a number in your head about how many eyes our number 1 animal has, you might want to stick a few zeros on the end of it…
Tuatara
10 – Tuatara
It might look like a normal lizard, but the Tuatara is known to be a living fossil and while it looks like it only has 2 eyes it does have a 3rd one on top of its head! While it is visible from birth as it grows and matures is soon becomes covered in scales and pigment, but it is still there and is a fully working eye.
Praying Mantis
9 – Praying Mantis
When you think of pictures of a praying mantis you might imagine it only has those two big eyes on the side of its head. But in reality, it also has 3 other smaller eyes located in the middle of their heads! This helps the praying mantis be the formidable hunter it is.
Indian Red Scorpion
8 – Indian Red Scorpion
Scorpions have two eyes on the top of the cephalothorax and up to five pairs of eyes along the front corners of the cephalothorax. While they don’t have the clearest of vision thet do have the most light sensitive eyes in the whole of the animal kingdom!
Horseshoe Crab
7 – Horseshoe Crab
While the crab does have two compound lateral eyes it also has 5 additional eyes on the top of its shell. The main 2 are much more sensitive to visible light, but the ones on top of its shell can see in the ultraviolet range! While it isn’t one of the more unusual crabs you will ever see it is still pretty cool.
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Jumping Spider
6 – Jumping Spider
While there are many species of this type of spider and indeed some have no eyes at all there are some with up to 12 eyes! I suppose it helps them see where they are jumping to.
Box Jellyfish
5 – Box Jellyfish
This amazing boneless creature has 24 eyes of four different types! He has the upper and lower lens eyes that are just as good as our human eyes, but it also has more primitive eyes that are not as good. It makes you wonder why they have them! But still, that is a lot of eyes for sure.
The Sunflower Starfish
4 – The Sunflower Starfish
Most people know starfish have an eyeball on the end of each of their legs, but when you have upwards of 24 legs that is suddenly a lot of eyeballs! This is also the worlds largest type of starfish and the heaviest.
Common Rock Scallop
3 – Common Rock Scallop
It might not be the most interesting creature on this list, but it does have the most eyes. Most of them have between 50 and 100 eyes and some have even been known to have more than that! If you want to keep an eye out the eyes of a scallop certaily have you covered.
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Chiton
2 – Chiton
With up to 1000 eyes this odd looking mollusc is said to have eyes made mostly of rock! While it doesn’t have a clear vision it can see most fish from 6.5 feet away even in the darkest of waters.
Monarch Butterfly
1 – Monarch Butterfly
We finish this post with something a lot of people would have seen with their own eyes so it certainly isn’t one the most unusual butterflies in the world, but most people would never have truly realised how many eyes they do have. These common and beautiful butterflies see us trying to catch them in our butterfly nets through their 12,000 eyes! While some might argue that it only has two eyes they are compound eyes which means they are made up of 100’s of different lens each one seeing a different angle.