How does the mantis shrimp see?
The mantis shrimp (Neogonodactylus oerstedii) is a crustacean in the order Stomatopoda. Its eyes belong to the vision type Crustacean (mantis shrimp, crab).
Measured in this species: colour. Measured colour or sharpness: a measured receptor set or acuity in this species; other dials come from relatives or group defaults. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has 13 colour receptor classes, including ultraviolet; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 1.275 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 25 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[11][9]
- Activity pattern: nocturnal.
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 13 receptor classes: 334 nm (UVS), 400 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 429 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 460 nm (SWS (blue)), 474 nm (SWS (blue)), 489 nm (MWS (green)), 500 nm (MWS (green)), 509 nm (MWS (green)), 520 nm (MWS (green)), 525 nm (MWS (green)), 528 nm (MWS (green)), 541 nm (LWS (long)), 551 nm (LWS (long)) measured in this species | Measured | [1][2][3] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Measured | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 1.275 cycles per degree median of 2 relatives in family Gonodactylidae: Gonodactylus chiragra, Gonodactylus smithii | Estimated | [4][5] |
| Angle between facets 1.6° median of 1 relatives in class Malacostraca: Phronima sedentaria | Group default | [6] | |
| Eye type compound eye | |||
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Night vision | Activity pattern nocturnal group default: mode of tier-A values in vision type V27 within phylum Arthropoda (1 species: Ligia exotica) | Group default | [7] |
| Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Group default | [7] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 25 Hz median of 37 relatives in class Malacostraca: Pseudorchomene plebs, Booralana tricarinata, Eugonatonotus crassus, Eumunida picta, Gastroptychus spinifer, Funchalia villosa | Group default | [8][9][10] |
Other senses
- polarisation vision: optional overlay of degree/angle of linear polarisation (Group default)
- circular polarisation: optional overlay (Group default)
Related animals
- Peacock mantis shrimp same vision type
- Ciliated mantis shrimp same vision type
- Common banded mantis shrimp same vision type
- Blueleg mantis shrimp same vision type
- Japanese squillid mantis shrimp same vision type
- Keeled witch mantis same vision type
More crustaceans: all crustaceans with measured vision data.
Sources
- VPOD in-vivo (MSP / single-cell) lambda max compendium, file scp_cleaned.csv, VPOD GitHub (Frazer et al. 2025 bioRxiv 10.1101/2025.08.22.671864). github.com/VisualPhysiologyDB/visual-physiology-opsin-db/tree/main/scripts_n_notebooks/vpod_ML_workflows/mine_n_match/data_sources/lmax/vpod
- Porter ML. Crustacean photoreceptor lambda max compilation, Table 1-1 (dissertation, "Porter_2005" in VPOD); extracted from PDF by VPOD with tabula. github.com/VisualPhysiologyDB/visual-physiology-opsin-db
- Feller K, Cronin T 2016. Spectral absorption of visual pigments in stomatopod larval photoreceptors. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. doi.org/10.1007/s00359-015-1063-y
- AndrewPMeade/FabricTools, sciphy/data_utils/datasets/Arthropod.CompoundEyes.csv (acuity, body length, light, media for 281 arthropods; columns match Feller et al. 2021 Arthropod Struct Dev 60:101002). github.com/AndrewPMeade/FabricTools
- Feller KD, Sharkey CR, McDuffee-Altekruse A, Bracken-Grissom HD, Lord NP, Porter ML, Schweikert LE 2021. Surf and turf vision: patterns and predictors of visual acuity in compound eye evolution. Arthropod Structure & Development 60:101002. doi.org/10.1016/j.asd.2020.101002
- Bagheri Z, Jessop A, Partridge J et al. 2022. A new computational model illuminates the extraordinary eyes of Phronima. PLOS Computational Biology. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010545
- Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
- Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
- Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?