An eye-popping discovery: early vertebrates had four eyes rather than two

Michael S. Levine

doi:10.1038/d41586-025-04096-z

An eye-popping discovery: early vertebrates had four eyes rather than two

Michael S. Levine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

Abstract

Eyes on a face’s front or side enable a brain to perceive images. Fossil evidence suggests that two light-sensitive organs on top of ancient vertebrate heads generated images, too.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	47-48
Number of pages	2
Journal	Nature
Volume	650
Issue number	8100
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-04096-z
State	Published - Feb 5 2026

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

General

Keywords

Evolution
Palaeontology

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10.1038/d41586-025-04096-z

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title = "An eye-popping discovery: early vertebrates had four eyes rather than two",

abstract = "Eyes on a face{\textquoteright}s front or side enable a brain to perceive images. Fossil evidence suggests that two light-sensitive organs on top of ancient vertebrate heads generated images, too.",

keywords = "Evolution, Palaeontology",

author = "Levine, \{Michael S.\}",

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N2 - Eyes on a face’s front or side enable a brain to perceive images. Fossil evidence suggests that two light-sensitive organs on top of ancient vertebrate heads generated images, too.

AB - Eyes on a face’s front or side enable a brain to perceive images. Fossil evidence suggests that two light-sensitive organs on top of ancient vertebrate heads generated images, too.

KW - Evolution

KW - Palaeontology

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DO - 10.1038/d41586-025-04096-z

M3 - Comment/debate

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An eye-popping discovery: early vertebrates had four eyes rather than two

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

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