How do seals see under the sea?

Answers for Globle, Metazooa, Elemingle and more from May 19 - May 25

The Trainwreck Labs Newsletter

Coming to your inbox every Monday with a brand new fun-fact and all the answers to Trainwreck Labs games from the past week.

This week, we have…

  • Coming soon: Metazooa Live!

  • A fun fact inspired by Metazooa

  • Answers to last week's games

  • Reader survey

Coming soon: Metazooa Live!

Turn your phone into a nature detective tool at Toronto’s High Park! Metazooa: Live is a scavenger hunt where you photograph plants, animals, and fungi around you. The app instantly identifies each species and builds your personal Tree of Life in real-time.

How many of High Park's 1,000+ species can you discover? Snap, identify, and watch your evolutionary tree grow with every shot.

How do seals see under the sea?

Seals’ superior underwater sight gives them a huge advantage at hide-and-seek.

If you've ever tried opening your eyes underwater, you know that everything appears blurry without a scuba mask or goggles. But if you were to look through the eyes of a seal (Metazooa answer for May 23), you would see very clearly. Seal eyes have adapted to see better underwater than above water in bright light. They have round lenses, like fish, and a large iris. Above water, the iris closes the pupil to a small pinpoint to maintain clear vision. Seals have even adapted to see in low lighting with a reflective lining in the eye similar to a cat's, which amplifies weak light underwater.

Why can't we see underwater as well as seals? It comes down to light and refraction. Our corneas are denser than air, causing light to bend and enabling us to focus clearly on land. Water, however, is substantially denser than air, so underwater our eyes lose their refractive power, causing everything to appear out of focus. Fish and marine mammals solve this differently - their spherical lenses do most of the focusing work since their corneas provide little refractive power underwater.

Interestingly, vision often plays a secondary role to other senses for marine animals. Seals have better hearing than humans and use distinctive calls to find each other, especially when pups get separated from their mothers. Many underwater creatures rely on echolocation, vibration detection, or chemical cues for hunting and navigation.

Learn more: Wildlife Online

Trivia

What allows seals to dive to extreme depths without their eyes being damaged by water pressure?

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Answers to last week's games

Monday, May 19 to Sunday, May 25.

Globle

  • May 19 Trinidad and Tobago

  • May 20 Solomon Is.

  • May 21 Burundi

  • May 22 Lesotho

  • May 23 Russia

  • May 24 Brazil

  • May 25 Vatican City

  • May 26 Play now!

Globle: Capitals

  • May 19 Riyadh

  • May 20 Sao Tome

  • May 21 Antananarivo

  • May 22 Astana

  • May 23 Dili

  • May 24 Yaounde

  • May 25 Guatemala City

  • May 26 Play now!

Chronogram

  • #779 Thomas Paine

  • #780 Carl Linnaeus

  • #781 Edgar Allan Poe

  • #782 Charles I of England

  • #783 Galileo Galilei

  • #784 Jane Austen

  • #785 Malcolm X

  • #786 Play now!

Fictogram

  • #546 Sarah Connor

  • #547 Legolas

  • #548 Norma Rae Webster

  • #549 Hercule Poirot

  • #550 Terry Malloy

  • #551 Jake Barnes

  • #552 Ferris Bueller

  • #553 Play now!

Metazooa

  • #658 goose

  • #659 kangaroo

  • #660 donkey

  • #661 opossum

  • #662 seal

  • #663 tick

  • #664 bison

  • #665 Play now!

Metaflora

  • #597 daffodil

  • #598 pawpaw

  • #599 cedar of lebanon

  • #600 oat

  • #601 sesame

  • #602 barrel cactus

  • #603 radish

  • #604 Play now!

Linxicon

The following are the shortest paths from last week:

  • #461 definitely → decision → game → sport → quarterback

  • #462 weight → weights → gym → mall

  • #463 ghost → movie → watch → let

  • #464 whereas → argument → defend → armed

  • #465 should → ought → obligation → assignment → colleague

  • #466 psychologist → mathematics → calculating → approximate → roughly

  • #467 get → getting → aging → ancient

  • #468 Play now!

Elemingle

  • #117 Cesium

  • #118 Bromine

  • #119 Xenon

  • #120 Hassium

  • #121 Holmium

  • #122 Roentgenium

  • #123 Einsteinium

  • #124 Play now!

Forgeous

Forgery of the week from May 21
91.6% accurate

Play Forgeous for May 26

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!

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