How does the common banded mantis shrimp see?
The common banded mantis shrimp (Lysiosquilla maculata) is a crustacean in the order Stomatopoda. Its eyes belong to the vision type Crustacean (mantis shrimp, crab).
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, including ultraviolet; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 1.5 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.[9][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 10 receptor classes: 397 nm (UVS), 416 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 434 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 461 nm (SWS (blue)), 492 nm (MWS (green)), 499 nm (MWS (green)), 500 nm (MWS (green)), 516.5 nm (MWS (green)), 517 nm (MWS (green)), 538 nm (MWS (green)) measured in this species | Measured | [1][2] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Measured | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 1.5 cycles per degree median of 1 compilation rows (method priority rule) | Measured | [3] |
| Angle between facets 1.6° median of 1 relatives in class Malacostraca: Phronima sedentaria | Group default | [4] | |
| 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 | [5] |
| Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Group default | [5] | |
| 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 | [6][7][8] |
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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?