How does the caridean shrimp see?
The caridean shrimp (Heterocarpus ensifer) is a crustacean in the order Decapoda. Its eyes belong to the vision type Crustacean (mantis shrimp, crab).
Measured in this species: colour, sharpness and motion (flicker fusion). Measured core: measured values on at least 3 of the 6 dials. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has one receptor class for colour, so it sees brightness but no hue.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 0.31 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 16 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[6][7]
- 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 1 receptor class: 497 nm (MWS (green)) measured in this species | Measured (not re-verified) | [1] |
| Sharpness | Acuity 0.31 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 | Activity pattern nocturnal group default: mode of tier-A values in vision type V27 within phylum Arthropoda (1 species: Ligia exotica) | Group default | [4] |
| Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Group default | [4] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 16 Hz median of 1 rows (no bright-light flag) (behavioural/whole-eye ERG rows; all rows: [16.0]) | Measured | [5] |
Other senses
- polarisation vision: optional overlay of degree/angle of linear polarisation (Group default)
Related animals
- American lobster same vision type
- Atlantic marsh fiddler same vision type
- Blue crab same vision type
- Crab same vision type
- Deep sea shrimp same vision type
- Fiddler crab (Leptuca pugilator) same vision type
More crustaceans: all crustaceans with measured vision data.
Sources
- Frank TM, Johnsen S, Cronin TW. 2012. J Exp Biol 215:3344-3353. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.072033
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?