Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've heard this mentioned earlier, but now I'm really curious. Is it like an not fully developed eye on top of the head, or just a sensor, or what?
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~Shana~

0.1 Bearded Dragon (Kaida)
1.0 Betta Fish (Boo)
0.1 Cat (Ginger)
Fish Tank

Cause that's something entirely different.

The one on top of a bearded dragons head is used for thermoregulation as far as what I've read. Also possibly to detect UV and such.

Here's a link

http://www.anapsid.org/parietal.html

That's pretty kewl, thanks for replying so fast
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~Shana~

0.1 Bearded Dragon (Kaida)
1.0 Betta Fish (Boo)
0.1 Cat (Ginger)
Fish Tank

Yeah kinda freaky!

look closely at your dragons head, just behind the eyes centered is a spot that looks like a small scale.

that "third eye" is an organ that is nearly absent in many animals but we have a vestige of ....

it can detect chnages in light levels.

I have seen my dragon detect an jet go overhead by the shadow.
or a bird ....

thats part of why they have it, big animal tries to sneak up from behind.... lizard "Sees" the shadow and darts fwd. by reflex.
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This space reserved for future use...

Do you know if it's harmful to touch it?
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~Shana~

0.1 Bearded Dragon (Kaida)
1.0 Betta Fish (Boo)
0.1 Cat (Ginger)
Fish Tank

It just something that detects light changes.
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sincerely,
Jonathan D. de Kluyver
JDDK Reptiles
Quality Reptiles and Amphibianswww.jddkreptiles.com

the parietal eye is a photorecptor organ, responsible for telling the lizard what the photoperiod is doing, i.e whether the seasons are changing, This will help them know when it's time to breed or hibernate etc.. Not all lizards have them, the most develolped is in the tuatara.