Perspective I

The image above shows a developing zebrafish eye 3 days after fertilization. From this perspective, we are staring directly into the eye of the zebrafish and can appreciate both its beauty and its complexity. At this stage, the cells that comprise and surround the zebrafish eye display an incredible organization. The dark circle that appears to be a hole in the middle of the eye is the zebrafish lens, which is the part of the eye that bends light, allowing zebrafish (and other vertebrates) to see distant objects sharply.

Contributed by Michka Sharpe, a fifth year graduate student in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Harvard Medical School, and our Featured Artist for August 2017.