Peacock Mantis Shrimp
Odontodactylus scyllarus
No recording yet
Quick Facts
- Type
- Other
- Size
- 3–18 cm long
- Weight
- A few tens of grams
- Habitat
- Burrows on tropical Indo-Pacific reefs
- Diet
- Crabs, snails, and other hard-shelled prey
- Active Time
- Active by day (diurnal)
- Lifespan
- 3–6 years
Field Notes
- Its punch accelerates as fast as a bullet, briefly boiling the water around it.
- It has up to 16 types of color receptors, compared with three in humans.
- The strike is so powerful it can crack the glass of an aquarium tank.
About the Peacock Mantis Shrimp
The peacock mantis shrimp is a vividly colored marine crustacean of Indo-Pacific reefs, known for two extraordinary features. Its club-like forelimbs strike with astonishing speed and force, smashing the shells of crabs and snails and even cracking aquarium glass; the strike is so fast it briefly boils the surrounding water. It also has some of the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, with many more types of color receptors than humans. Bold and territorial, it lives in burrows and reefs, hunting hard-shelled prey.
Keep exploring
Related animals
Moon Jellyfish
Common Octopus
Emperor Scorpion
Wirenia argentea
Scutopus ventrolineatus
Crossea biconica
Crossea concinna
Crossea gatliffi
Cassidula sowerbyana
Ophicardelus sulcatus
Cassidula angulifera
Crossea inverta
Or spin for another random animal on the explorer, or browse all species in the full directory.