These shrimps, typically 6 to 12 inches long, are fierce predators that live in shallow, sandy tropical waters, mainly in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Its front appendages are powerful weapons. This shrimp crushes its prey by using its claws that strike like a rifle bullet. The strike force can create a shock wave that can stun or even fill the prey (even if the strike is a narrow miss). They have four types of claws: spears, hatchets, smashers, and spikes.
This unusual shrimp can easily open crab bodies, snail shells, and oyster shells. The strike force of this shrimp can also crack aquarium glass! Please note: humans are frequently injured by strikes from mantis shrimp.
Figure 1. Mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus scyllarus. Image via the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
Mantis shrimps also have incredible eyesight. They have 16 types of color-receptive cones, whereas humans have only three cones (green, blue, and red) that are able to perceive color. Mantis shrimps can perceive wavelengths of light ranging from deep UV (300 nanno meters) to far-red (720 nm). They can also perceive polarized light.
Predators that hunt mantis shrimps are: sharks, octopuses, tuna, large fish, cuttlefish, and squid.
Classification
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Malacostraca
Order Stomatopoda
Genus Odontodactylus
Type Species O. scyllarus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The oldest “stem group” that was apparently directly related to the future evolution of mantis shrimp was Carboniferous age. The earliest unambiguous group related to mantis shrimps is geologically younger (i.e. Triassic age).
Reference
Wikipedia, 2016
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