Hi everybody,

I already showed you a Nauplius in one of my first Protozoa postings. As
I have not much time for long-winded explanations today, here's just
another one. You may remember that Nauplius is a larva stadium of a
small aquatic crab ("cancer", I've been told, is wrong meaning the
tumor, not the animal, though I believe the zodiac sign showing the
animal is also named "cancer"). Just watch how nicely the big red eye
comes out here as well as the nerval structures attached to its rear.
The red colour, by the way, is no coincidence; colours, in gereral, act
as light energy absorbers in nature. This is the same with chlorophyll
providing energy to build glucose from carbon dioxide as with the red
eye colouring transforming the light energy into chemical signal
transmitters which stimulate the nerves. Most red eye colourings - I
already showed you those of Euglena, similar ones can also be found in
the human retina - are based on carotene which also makes up the colour
of carrots and tomatoes; that is why these are regarded as wholesome for
your eyesight. The chemical structures absorbing the light are the same
in almost all natural colours; they are known as conjugated
carbon-carbon double bindings (sorry, this is a primitive translation
from German).

This is all I have of Nauplius, but two other guys with red eyes still
to come.

Take care

Ralf


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