Biologically controlled crystal growth: the image-forming mirror in the eye of the scallop

By B. A. Palmer, Gavin Taylor, V. Brumfeld, Dvir Gur, Michal Shemesh, N. Elad, A. Osherov, Dan Oron, S. Weiner, L. Addadi. Acta Crystallographica Section A: Foundations and Advances, 2017

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Guanine crystals are found commonly in biological photonic systems (1) where they are responsible for the white color in certain spiders (2), the metallic silvery reflectance of fish scales (3, 4) and the brilliant iridescent colors of planktonic crustaceans (5, 6) and tropical fish (7). A wide range of different optical phenomena are produced by organisms "simply" by varying the size, morphology and arrangement of the guanine crystals. Organisms display an extraordinary ability to manipulate and control crystal growth producing crystal morphologies which are highly optimized for a particular optical function. The most complex of all these functions is in vision.

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