Moken Sea Nomads and Underwater Vision

Recently, scientists have found that Moken children living around the Andaman Sea can see underwater with more than twice the visual clarity of European children.

  • The Moken are an Indigenous sea-nomadic community traditionally living across islands along the coasts of Myanmar and Thailand in the Andaman Sea.
  • Moken children can constrict their pupils to around 2 mm underwater and also change the shape of their eye lens, improving focus despite the blurring effect of water.
  • Researchers found that this ability is not purely genetic. European children were able to develop similar underwater vision after about a month of training, suggesting that repeated exposure ....
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