#stomatopoda

[herpsandbirds]

West Atlantic Mantis Shrimp (Squilla empusa), family Squillidae, order Stomatopoda, found along the coasts of North and South America

photographs by Robert Bachand

[dailybugfacts]

oh wait do shrimp count? please give us a mantis shrimp fact

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TODAY'S FACT IS

Did you know that the Purple Spot Mantis Shrimp (Gonodactylus smithii) has the fastest known strike speed among mantis shrimp? These are a kind of smasher shrimp, using their club-like appendages to smash and crush their prey apart. Their clubs can reach speeds of 30.6 m/s (110 km/h). Their vision is unique (even among shrimp) for their ability to rotate their eyes independently of each other to focus on polarized light.

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Photo by JennyHuang

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Malacostraca - Stomatopoda

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Order: Stomatopoda

Common Name: “mantis shrimp”

Families: 17 - Bathysquillidae, Indosquillidae, Alainosquillidae, Hemisquillidae, Gonodactylidae, Odontodactylidae, Protosquillidae, Pseudosquillidae, Takuidae, Erythrosquillidae, Coronididae, Lysiosquillidae (“banded mantis shrimps”), Nannosquillidae, Tetrasquillidae, Squillidae, Eurysquillidae, and Parasquillidae

Anatomy: shrimp-like; carapace covers only the rear part of the head and the first four segments of the thorax; raptorial claws with a variety of weapons that vary between families (see propaganda below the cut); eyes mounted on mobile stalks that can move independently of one another

Diet: mollusks, gastropods, crustaceans, fish

Habitat: shallow, tropical, and subtropical marine habitats; spend most of their lives sheltering in burrows and holes

Evolved in: Carboniferous

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Voting ended onSep 2, 2025

Propaganda under the cut:

Stomatopods have some of the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, and are known for their excellent color vision, but they probably can not actually see “shrimp colors.” Some species can see ultraviolet and polarized light, but their excess of photoreceptor cells actually lets them process their environment faster than we can, rather than differentiate between a multitude of different colors. This allows them to have quick reaction times, either to escape predators, fight or flee from rivals, or strike at their prey with amazing speed. Seeing polarized light may enable them to recognise different types of coral, prey species (which are often transparent or semitransparent), or predators, such as barracuda, which have shimmering scales.

During mating rituals, mantis shrimp actively fluoresce.

Mantis shrimp possess powerful raptorial appendages (hence their name, after the praying mantis) that are used to attack and kill prey either by spearing, stunning, or dismembering. The shape of these appendages vary between families and are used to classify them into groups: “spearers”, “smashers”, “spike smashers”, and “hatchets”. Most mantis shrimp are spearers: their appendages are armed with barbed tips used to spear their prey. Smashers, of the families Gonodactylidae, Odontodactylidae, Protosquillidae, and Takuidae, have a more developed, heavily mineralized club and rudimentary spear, used to bludgeon and then tear their prey apart. Spike smashers are rarer, only found in the basal family Hemisquillidae (image 1). Spike smashers have a club but not as many spines, and are more effecting at smashing than spearing. The last weapon is a hatchet, a highly derived, largely unresearched form that only a few species have.

Smashing mantis shrimp strike with blinding quickness, with an acceleration of 10,400 g (102,000 m/s2 or 335,000 ft/s2) and speeds of 23 m/s (83 km/h; 51 mph) from a standing start, generating cavitation bubbles in the wake of their strike. The collapse of these cavitation bubbles produces measurable forces on their prey in addition to the instantaneous forces of 1,500 newtons that are caused by the impact of the appendage against the striking surface, which means that the prey is hit twice by a single strike; first by the claw and then by the collapsing cavitation bubbles that immediately follow. Even if the initial strike misses the prey, the resulting shock wave can be enough to stun or kill. Smashers use this ability to crack open the tough shells of mollusks, gastropods, and other crustaceans. When attacking crabs, they will first punch the crab’s pinchers off with blinding speed before the crab can defend itself.

Mantis shrimp are typically solitary sea creatures that may aggressively defend their burrows, but they have developed complex social behaviors to communicate with rivals to avoid these confrontations. Mantis shrimp are able to recognize their neighbors visually or even through smell, communicate through fluorescent patterns on their bodies, and will engage in ritualized battles that allow them to fight without dire consequences.

While in some mantis shrimp species males and females may only approach each other to mate, other species form long-term pair relationships, remaining with the same partner for up to 20 years. Monogamous pairs will share the same burrow and the responsibility of caring for their eggs. In some species, the female lays two clutches of eggs: one that the male tends and one that the female tends. In other species, the female looks after the eggs while the male hunts for both of them.

When stranded on the beach at low tide, Nannosquilla decemspinosa has been known to roll itself into a “wheel” and do backward somersaults until it rolls back into the ocean.

[lupineshieldmaiden]

mantis shrimp pngs ✮⋆˙

artwork by mesa schumacher 𖹭

send requests .ᐟ.ᐟ જ⁀➴ ✉

[heated-pizza]

Savvy Stomatopod

Here’s some exploration sketches

[sharp-teuth]

Thank you so very much for keeping my dash filled with wonderful animals. ALSO, I just saw you were taking animals to doodle— Could you do the Pink-Eared Mantis shrimp?? Or maybe a Zebra Mantis Shrimp?

youre welcome!!!! i see u always like my posts and i rlly appreciate that!!

excuse my probably poor crustacean anatomy lol

id never heard or seen the pink-eared one, they have very striking colors!!! super pretty

[aubrietarose]

Today's Weretober is a peacock mantis shrimp - neither a shrimp, mantid, or peacock - but they can punch faster than you can blink, so it's probably better to respect their space. Especially if they're were-crustacean sized.

[taxonomytournament]

Taxonomy Tournament: Crustaceans

Decapods. This order includes crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, and prawns.

Stomatopoda. This order is made up of mantis shrimp, marine predators with appendages adapted for powerful close-range combat.

Which clade of animals is better?

Decapods

Stomatopoda

Show results

Voting ended onFeb 5, 2024