| The spectral transmittance of the optical media of the eye plays a substantial role in tuning the spectrum of light available for capture by the retina. Certain squamate reptiles, including snakes and most geckos, shield their eyes beneath a layer of transparent, cornified skin called the ‘spectacle’. This spectacle offers an added opportunity compared with eyelidded animals for tayloring the spectrum. In particular, the hard scale that covers the surface of the spectacle provides a unique material, keratin, rarely found in vertebrate eyes, a material which may have unique spectral properties. To verify this, shed snake and gecko skins were collected and the spectral transmittance of spectacle scales was spectrophotometrically analyzed. The spectacle scale... |
