When asked for an example of a sour food, many people in Japan would choose pickled plums (called "umeboshi"). This image looks like lots of those same pickled plums tightly packed together. What could it be?
What looked like pickled plums seems to be something that was crushed and crumpled. There are also hair-like structures around it. Do you remember seeing anything like this before?
You guessed it — it's an insect's eye. What kind of insect could it be? And why does this compound eye look so crumpled?
Answer: The compound eye of a mosquito
It may look like the pickled plums that Japanese people know and love, but this too is actually a compound eye. The features of compound eyes vary depending on the insect. In this case, it appears that the eye was crushed because it was unable to endure the vacuum created by the electron microscope. It was probably more delicate than the lace bug's.
