About 520 species of mantis shrimp have been discovered worldwide; all living species are in the suborder Unipeltata, which arose around 250 million years ago.
These aggressive and typically solitary sea creatures s… See more

Mantis shrimp live in burrows where they spend the majority of their time. The two main categories of mantis shrimp—spearing and smashing—favour different locations for burrowing. The spearing sp… See more

The mantis shrimp's second pair of thoracic appendages has been highly adapted for powerful close-range combat. The appendage differences divide mantis shrimp into two main types: those that hunt by impalin… See more

The eyes of the mantis shrimp are mounted on mobile stalks and can move independently of each other. The extreme mobility allows them to be rotated in all three dimensions, yet the position of their eyes has s… See more

Mantis shrimp are long-lived and exhibit complex behaviour, such as ritualised fighting. Some species use fluorescent patterns on their bodies for signalling with their own and maybe even other species, expanding t… See more