Current retinal prostheses provide electrical stimulation without feedback from the stimulated neurons. In this work, we explore a wireless, optoelectronic, miniature, and distributed electro-neural interface for recording, which we call Sensory Particles with Optical Telemetry (SPOT) for use in a retinal prosthesis and other sensory applications. SPOTs are powered by near-infrared (NIR) light and transmit information by light. Our design was fabricated in 130nm CMOS. It achieved 57 mS transconductance within 3.5 kHz bandwidth, and an NIR power density of 0.5 mW/mm², well within the ocular and thermal safety limits. The telemetry circuit consumes 0.015 mm² area, and each SPOT can be powered by a single photovoltaic (PV) supply of area 0.0056 mm². Electrical spikes transmitted by an 850nm LED were detected with 15 dB SNR, at the output of the optical link.