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General Info
Odontodactylus scyllarus, or the peacock mantis shrimp is a marine arthropod of the subphylum Crustacea, found commonly in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its size ranges from two to seven inches and its diet mainly consists of, but is not limited to various gastropods, smaller crustaceans, and mollusks (Tseng and Patek, 2004). They are burrowing animals that will live in natural crevices in corals or rock, but will also burrow if necessary. They mate and reproduce year round and eggs that hatch will take 35 to 70 days to reach sexual maturity.
Ecology
Ecologically, the peacock mantis shrimp can be disruptive in more close-quarter environments. This is due to the fact that they are known to be territorial and aggressive toward intruders and that they will prey on almost anything. They can also be disruptive in that they will burrow into corals to make their home (Scherbaum, 2010).
What sets the peacock mantis shrimp apart?
1) The way it breaks apart the shells of its prey using their raptorial appendages and
2) Their vision
Shell-shocking forces
Mantis shrimp are well known for their unique way of breaking shells. Most other species employ a strategy of applying force over a long time or by peeling/chipping away at the shell of the prey. The mantis shrimp however, uses a spear or hammer like structure to apply large amounts of force over short periods of time (Patek and Caldwell, 2004). A blow from the An unexpected side effect of applying large amounts of force using these "hammers" is the generation of cavitation. Cavitation is essentially the rapid forming and breaking of vapor bubbles. Despite the small stature of the peacock mantis shrimp, it can generate impact forces thousands of times its own weight. To add to that, the cavitation forces that result of the impact are on average 50% of that of the impact force, but may exceed the limb impact forces by upwards of 280% (Patek and Caldwell, 2005).
A couple examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpW9RIy7Gus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ahuZEvWH8
All the colors of the wind (and then some)
As you may know, humans have three types of color-receptive cones: red, green, and blue. The peacock mantis shrimp however, has SIXTEEN color-receptive cones. SIXTEEN. Butterflies are considered to have one of the broadest spectrums of color vision, but even they don't stack up to the peacock mantis shrimp. While these shrimp can not only see almost every color (known and unkown) their eyes also have to ability to see and discriminate circularly polarized light. By studying the eye of the peacock mantis shrimp, scientists at the National Taipei University of Technology are in the process of developing improvements in optical media (Bradley, 2011).
Odontodactylus scyllarus
Sources Cited
Patek, S. N., and R. L. Caldwell. "Extreme impact and cavitation forces of a biological hammer: strike forces of the peacock mantis shrimp Odontodactylus scyllarus." Journal of Experimental Biology 208.19 (2005): 3655-3664.
Scherbaum, Samantha, et al. "Characterization of hemocyanin from the peacock mantis shrimp Odontodactylus scyllarus (Malacostraca: Hoplocarida)." Journal of Comparative Physiology B 180.8 (2010): 1235-1245.
Patek, S. N., and R. L. Caldwell. "Snail smashing forces of the peacock mantis shrimp." Integrative and Comparative Biology. Vol. 44. No. 6. 1313 Dolley Madison Blvd, No 402, McLean, VA 22101 USA: SOC Integrative Comparative Biology, 2004.
Tseng, J., and S. Patek. "Looking for trouble: Strike response to conspecific body colors in the peacock mantis shrimp." Integrative and Comparative Biology. Vol. 44. No. 6. 1313 Dolley Madison Blvd, No 402, McLean, VA 22101 USA: SOC Integrative Comparative Biology, 2004
Bradley, David. "Better optical storage with a mantis shrimp sandwich: Optical Materials." Materials Today 14.9 (2011): 376.
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