Mantis shrimp’s bizarre visual system may save brainpower
Thursday, January 23, 2014 - 15:40
in Biology & Nature
No one can deny that the mantis shrimp is special. The charismatic crustacean looks like a walking Mardi Gras parade and hammers its enemies so fast that water boils. Now scientists have added another distinction: The mantis shrimp has a really strange way of seeing colors. People and other animals perceive a palette of colors by blending and comparing signals from a few types of color-sensing eye cells called photoreceptors. In contrast, the mantis shrimp sees each color separately with one of a dozen kinds of specialized cells, scientists suggest in the Jan. 24 Science.