How does the peacock mantis shrimp see?
The peacock mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) is a crustacean in the order Stomatopoda. Its eyes belong to the vision type Crustacean (mantis shrimp, crab): mantis shrimp: 12 colour classes, UV, linear + circular polarisation; fiddler crab: few classes, low acuity.
Measured in this species: colour and sharpness. 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 10 colour receptor classes; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 1.1 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 24.5 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[7][5]
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 10 receptor classes: 400 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 429 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 430 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 451 nm (SWS (blue)), 487 nm (MWS (green)), 503 nm (MWS (green)), 506 nm (MWS (green)), 509 nm (MWS (green)), 528 nm (MWS (green)), 546 nm (LWS (long)) measured in this species | Measured | [1] |
| Sharpness | Acuity 1.1 cycles per degree median of 1 compilation rows (method priority rule) | Measured | [2] |
| Angle between facets 1.6° median of 1 relatives in class Malacostraca: Phronima sedentaria | Group default | [3] | |
| Eye type compound eye | |||
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Night vision | Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Group default | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 24.5 Hz median of 37 relatives in class Malacostraca: Pseudorchomene plebs, Booralana tricarinata, Eugonatonotus crassus, Eumunida picta, Gastroptychus spinifer, Funchalia villosa | Group default | [4][5][6] |
Other senses
- polarisation vision: optional overlay of degree/angle of linear polarisation (Group default)
- circular polarisation: optional overlay (Group default)
Comparisons
Related animals
- 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
- Mantis shrimp same vision type
More crustaceans: all crustaceans with measured vision data.
Sources
- 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 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
- 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?