Mantis shrimps move fast, burrow in rocks, and rarely make an appearance.
The first region, located at the impacting surface of the club, contains a high concentration of mineral, similar to that found in human bone, which supports the impact when the
mantis shrimp strikes prey.
In contrast, the
mantis shrimp sees each color separately with one of a dozen kinds of specialized cells, scientists suggest in the Jan.
Peacock
mantis shrimp are one of only a few animal species that can see circularly polarized light-like the light used to create 3-D movies.
The puzzling underachievement may mean that the
mantis shrimp brain perceives color in a way new to science, said Hanne Thoen of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
However, these artificial devices only tend to work well for one colour of light while the natural mechanism in the
mantis shrimp's eyes works almost perfectly across the whole visible spectrum - from near-ultra violet to infra-red.
Roy Caldwell of the University of California, Berkeley, suspected that one species of
mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus cultrifer, might be able to distinguish circular polarizations.
BATTERED:
Mantis shrimp kills with its giant club; SLIMY: Deadly hagfish
"We have no idea what an angelfish or
mantis shrimp sees when it looks at an angelfish," Marshall says.
The green
mantis shrimp is known for its powerful claws, which it uses to smash open crab shells with the force of a rifle bullet.
Our
mantis shrimp was prepared in a deep-fried version skin on with spices quite similar to a simple salt and pepper style.