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Blinking
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===Evolutionary origins=== Blinking is present in all major [[tetrapod]] [[crown group]]s. The soft tissues involved in blinking have not been preserved in the fossil record, but study of [[mudskipper]]s (a group of amphibious fish species that evolved blinking [[Convergent evolution|independently]] from other tetrapod species, but for similar purposes), suggest that blinking (which involves the eye retracting in mudskippers) may have arose in response to [[Natural selection|selective pressures]] upon species shifting from aquatic to terrestrial habitats. For example, compared to an aquatic environment, in a terrestrial environment, the corneal cells must be kept moist such that vital substances like oxygen can more easily diffuse into them, detritus may adhere to the eye in dry conditions, and objects may move towards the eye at faster and more dangerous speeds in air than in water. Additionally, when at their fully aquatic juvenile stage of development, their eyes are not in the positioning with which they blink, but as adults, their eyes elevate to a position that can blink, which they do when they are not submerged or bump into a surface, suggesting blinking emerged as an adaptation to terrestrial life as opposed to aquatic life.<ref name="mudskipper">{{cite journal |last1=Aiello |first1=Brett R. |last2=Bhamla |first2=M. Saad |last3=Gau |first3=Jeff |last4=Morris |first4=John G. L. |last5=Bomar |first5=Kenji |last6=da Cunha |first6=Shashwati |last7=Fu |first7=Harrison |last8=Laws |first8=Julia |last9=Minoguchi |first9=Hajime |last10=Sripathi |first10=Manognya |last11=Washington |first11=Kendra |last12=Wong |first12=Gabriella |last13=Shubin |first13=Neil H. |last14=Sponberg |first14=Simon |last15=Stewart |first15=Thomas A. |date=April 24, 2023 |title=The origin of blinking in both mudskippers and tetrapods is linked to life on land |journal=[[PNAS]] |volume=120 |issue=18 |pages=e2220404120 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2220404120 |pmid=37094121 |pmc=10160996 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2023PNAS..12020404A }}</ref> Early tetrapods in the transition to land, which would later yield all non-mudskipper blinking species, possessed similar characteristics regarding eye positioning that suggest blinking arose in response to aerial vision and terrestrial lifestyle.<ref name="mudskipper" />
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