What is a mantis shrimp?
Mantis shrimps are crustaceans, like crabs, rock lobsters and other shrimps. They are the only animals to have hyperspectral colour vision and are considered to have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. They can see ultraviolet, visible and infra-red light and different planes of polarized light. The shape of their eyes allows them to see things with three different parts of the eye at once. What do they look like? Many different species of mantis shrimps live in Australian waters. Most of them are less that 15 centimetres long, but some species reach more than 30 centimetres and would appear quite fearsome to a fish! While many are pale blue, green or brown in colour, several tropical species have beautiful colours and patterns, like the one in the movie. Mantis shrimps have eight pairs of legs (the first five pairs are equipped with claws) plus modified legs known as pleopods on their abdomen which are used for swimming. The eyes and the first pair of antennae are attached to