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Mad_Dizzle t1_jce3bfi wrote

As with a lot of things in evolutionary biology, the answer is probably both. Most life, from my understanding, responds to light. Whether that be to photosynthesize or to see, because the sun is the primary source of energy in our ecosystem. Eyes likely all come from a similar source that responded to light in an advantageous way. However, many eyes may have evolved separately, which could be why different animals can see different wavelengths of light.

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aggasalk t1_jceibkp wrote

all animal eyes use photopigments that are descended from a common ancestor - whether or not that thing (a basal eumetazoan, which would have looked more like a sponge larva than any animal you've ever seen) had eyes, I think probably not. but it seems that, having evolved these supremely useful molecules, evolution figured out pretty quickly the best way to make use of them ("build an eye").

(if there is something recent suggesting a common ancestor to all eyes, i'd really like to see it!)

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