''Odontodactylus scyllarus'', commonly known as the peacock mantis shrimp, harlequin mantis shrimp, painted mantis shrimp, clown mantis shrimp or rainbow mantis shrimp, is a large

stomatopod Mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 340 million years ago. Mantis shrimp typically grow to around in length ...

native to the

epipelagic The photic zone, euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological proc ...

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

across the Indo-Pacific, ranging from

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

to East Africa, and as far South as Northern

KwaZulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. In the

marine aquarium A marine aquarium is an aquarium that keeps marine plants and animals in a contained environment. Marine aquaria are further subdivided by hobbyists into fish only (FO), fish only with live rock (FOWLR), and reef aquaria. Fish only tanks ofte ...

trade, it is both prized for its attractiveness and considered by others to be a dangerous pest.

Description

''O. scyllarus'' is one of the larger, more colourful mantis shrimps commonly seen, ranging in size from . They are primarily green with orange legs and leopard-like spots on the anterior carapace. Their ability to see circularly polarised light has led to studies to determine if the mechanisms by which their eyes operate can be replicated for use in reading CDs and similar

optical storage IBM defines optical storage as "any storage method that uses a laser to store and retrieve data from optical media." '' Britannica'' notes that it "uses low-power laser beams to record and retrieve digital (binary) data." Compact disc (CD) an ...

devices.

The dactyl club

The dactyl club is the most electron dense region of the stomatopod exoskeleton. From a transverse cross section, the club can be divided into three different regions: the impact region, the periodic region and the striated region. The mechanical properties of each region has a correlation to the degree of mineralization that is present. There is a step-like decrease in calcium concentration from the impact region towards the periodic region of the dactyl club, meanwhile the phosphate concentration decreases in a gradient manner. Alongside this the carbon and magnesium concentrations increases in the same region, hence stipulating that the impact region is mainly composed of calcium phosphate while the rest of the club contains a combination of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate. The impact region has shown to be mainly composed of hydroxyapatite, with a higher degree of crystallinity compared to that found in bovine bone.

Ecology

''Odontodactylus scyllarus'' is a burrower, constructing U-shaped holes in the loose substrate near the bases of

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

s in water ranging from deep. ''O. scyllarus'' is a '' smasher'', with

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

-shaped

raptorial The term ''raptorial'' implies much the same as ''predatory'' but most often refers to modifications of an arthropod's foreleg that make it function for the grasping of prey while it is consumed, where the gripping surfaces are formed from the o ...

appendages. An agile and active intertidal and sub-intertidal

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

, it prefers gastropods,

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s, and bivalves, and will repeatedly deliver

blunt force Blunt trauma, also known as blunt force trauma or non-penetrating trauma, is physical traumas, and particularly in the elderly who fall. It is contrasted with penetrating trauma which occurs when an object pierces the skin and enters a tissue ...

to the

exoskeleton An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...

of its prey until it can gain access to the underlying soft tissue for consumption. It is reported to have a "punch" of over , the fastest recorded punch of any living animal. The acceleration is similar to that in a

.22 LR The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smooth ...

bullet fired from a handgun (accelerations of over (more than 10,000 g), and speeds of over ), with each strike packing of force. The speed of a raptorial appendage's strike causes cavitation bubbles to form. When those bubbles pop they release a large amount of heat, temporarily raising temperatures to near those at the surface of the sun and further weakening the armor of their prey. In addition, the surface of its hammer-claw is made up of extremely dense hydroxyapatite, laminated in a manner which is highly resistant to fracturing, and can break ordinary glass

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

s. Its composition is being investigated for potential

bionic Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August 1 ...

use in material engineering.

Aquaria

Some saltwater aquarists keep peacock mantis shrimp in captivity. The peacock mantis is especially colourful and desired in the trade. While some aquarists value peacock shrimp, others consider them harmful pests because they are voracious predators that will eat other desirable inhabitants in the tank. Some of the largest specimens can break aquarium glass by striking it, and can do further damage by burrowing in

live rock Live rock is rock from the ocean that has been introduced into a saltwater aquarium. Along with live sand, it confers to the closed marine system multiple benefits desired by the saltwater aquarium hobbyist. The name sometimes leads to misunders ...

. Live rock with mantis shrimp burrows is considered useful by some in the

trade and is often collected. It is not uncommon for a piece of live rock to convey a live mantis shrimp in an aquarium. Once inside the tank, they may feed on fish, shrimps, and other inhabitants. They are notoriously difficult to re-catch once established in a well-stocked tank, and there are accounts of them breaking glass tanks and damaging

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

, when they wish to make a home within it.

References

External links

Mantis shrimps could show us the way to a better DVD
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q43735 Stomatopoda Crustaceans described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Edible crustaceans