This is a common mantis shrimp that is hiding in the crevice.

They are older than dinosaurs. They are actually not a shrimp nor are they a mantis. However, they do resemble a preying mantis and are crustaceans. Biologists believe that these stomatopods split from other crustaceans and began to evolve about 400 million years ago. That is about 170 million years before dinosaurs.

Unlike common crustaceans, they have raptorial arms and highly evolved eyes.

In fact, they have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. Each eye can move independently and is trinocular. This means it has 3 separate perceptual regions, sort of like trifocal lenses. They have the ability to perceive different visual information all at once. They can see light like us, but the mantis can see a spectra of light that is not visible to humans. They can see infrared, ultraviolet, and polarized lights. This unique feature is thought to aid in communication. To put it simply, humans have 3 photo receptors in our eyes and these mantis shrimp have 12-16. They are thought to be able to learn and highly intelligent. Some even believe that they can detect cancer and neuron activity with their eyes.

There are 2 types of mantis shrimp.

Both have raptorial appendages. Those are actually legs that have evolved into claw-like arms that are used to kill their prey. Some species, like the above, have spears at the end of these appendages. These mantis shrimp are spearers and ambush predators. That means they sit still or hide until their prey comes along and then they untuck those appendages and attack. They are able to release or activate them at an incredible speed. They enjoy eating worms and small fish. One study says they can attack at 23m/s with an acceleration of 10,400 grams. The other type of mantis shrimp have club like appendages that they use to whack and smash their prey. The smashers will actively pursue their prey and essentially beat it to death and then pick out the food. They enjoy feasting on crabs or snails.

Although these animals are small and hard to spot, they are extremely interesting to watch. They are not very big and often hiding so you really need to keep your eyes open. They have been nicknamed “the shrimp from Mars” and they definitely are unique.

This colorful image was taken off a West Maui Beach by the dedicated staff of Ocean Project Maui. They offer custom, private snorkel tours around the island of Maui, Hawaii. Each #COLORSOFTHEOCEAN image you see in our monthly blog, was captured during a private guided snorkel tour. These amazing images, as well as images above and below the water of the clients/supporters are included in every tour at no additional cost.

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