What is the Compound Eye Function?
Compound eyes are vision organs in arthropods (insects and crustaceans) characterized by a curved mass of thousands of small eyes called ommatidia. Unlike the mammal eye, insect and crustacean compound eyes receive light through various angles because of the curved structure of the lens. This curvature allows for periphery vision and hyper-sensitivity to fluctuations in light.OmmatidiaThe compound eye consist of a few thousand identical units called ommatidia. Ommatidia are independent photoreception (light-receiving) units each with an optical system (cornea, lens, retina, and other structures) and normally eight photoreceptor cells. These structures, packed tightly together on each side of the head, act as an eyeball working to see an image as a whole.ImagingBecause ommatidia form a curved layer, each ommatidia receives light from slightly different angles. Compound eyes do not form an image like those of humans and other vertebrates but a neural or brain-picture. The image of a flow
