Heart-shaped Mollusc has Windows that Work like Fibre Optics | New Scientist

Dakota McCoy opened her lab at the University of Chicago and the Marine Biological Laboratory in September 2024.

A heart-shaped mollusc has evolved tiny windows that work like fibre-optic cables, the first known example in nature.

Heart cockles (Corculum cardissa) are bivalve molluscs a bit like clams that have a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae that live inside them. The algae have a safe home, get light to photosynthesise and provide nutrients for their hosts.

Unlike other bivalves, heart cockles don’t open their shells up wide, yet they somehow funnel light to their interior even while staying shut.

Now, Dakota McCoy at the University of Chicago and her colleagues have found that there are transparent calcium carbonate crystal structures in the heart cockle shells that function like fibre-optic bundles, letting light inside to bathe the algae. “If you don’t have to open and can just have a transparent window, that’s a very safe way to irradiate your algae,” says McCoy. Read rest of the article here.

Source: Heart-shaped Mollusc has Windows that Work like Fibre Optics | New Scientist