Creature Feature: Zebra Mantis Shrimp

Andrew Hosie's blog | Created 1 decade ago

All seeing, all knowing: the Zebra Mantis Shrimp Lysiosquillina maculata (Fabricius, 1793)

As the largest species of mantis shrimp known, reaching up to 40 cm, the Zebra Mantis Shrimp is an impressive crustacean. Zebra Mantis Shrimp belong to the group of stomatopods known as “spearers”. Unlike the “smashers” spearers have a row of sharp spines on the inner margin of the last segment of the claw which it uses to spear softer prey like shrimp and fish. Normally bottom dwelling predators, the Zebra Mantis Shrimp has often been found swimming around at night hunting other animals drawn to the lights of boats or wharves.

The large, broad eyes of the Zebra Mantis Shrimp provide excellent vision. A peculiar aspect of mantis shrimp eyes is that they are divided in half so that each eye is capable of binocular vision giving them excellent depth perception and range finding making them very successful at catching fast moving prey. Mantis shrimp have great colour vision and are able to distinguish around 100,000 colours—10 times more than humans—including seeing into the ultraviolet. Thanks to their great eyesight stomatopods can recognise individuals of their own species and even recognise individual people.

Manits shrimp eyes also have the unique ability to perceive circular polarised light (a form of light which no other animal can see). Sections of the cuticle in some species actually reflect this form of light, so stomatopods are probably using it to secretly communicate with each other.

Zebra Mantis Shrimp live on tropical sandy sediments between East Africa and the Galapagos, in Western Australia they have been recorded as far south as the Houtman Abrolhos Islands. Aside from their large size Zebra Mantis Shrimp are noteworthy in that they live in permanent monogamous pairs, whereas the majority of other stomatopod species are solitary.

: The Zebra Mantis Shrimp, Lysiosquillina maculata (the yellowish colour is to the preservation process).; Photo by Andrew Hosie; Image copyright of WA Museum