AOTW#5: Ninja Shrimp!

Ninja shrimp? That sounds like the title of some cheesy animated family movie, doesn't it? In actuality, it's my way of saying a really, REALLY fast crustacean. This, my friends, is the Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus). This colorful critter is a part of the Stomatopoda order of Crustaceans. Despite its name, it's closely related to neither shrimp nor mantids, but rather their own group of organisms. You can probably tell why its common name labels it as a shrimp, but there are many telltale differences between the two organisms.

The most obvious of these characteristics is that the Stomatopods are exceptionally larger than most species of shrimp. The peacock mantis shrimp (pictured above) can grow up to a length of 7 inches long! That's a pretty big shrimp-- ahem-- stomatopod, if you ask me.

You may be wondering why they are called "mantis" shrimp, as well. If you look at the image to the left, this mantis shrimp (Squilla mantis) reveals its long forelimbs, which act as a kind of akimbo (dual-wielding) spears which whip forward, much like the forelegs of a praying mantis. Stomatopods use these appendages to hunt for small fish and other crustaceans (unlike shrimp, who mostly scavenge fish carcasses or filter feed plankton) and sometimes even ritualized fighting. Kind of like UFC for crustaceans... UCFC (Ultimate Crustacean Fighting Championship... I'm such a dork). This is because mantis shrimp are very territorial, also unlike the communal legit shrimp.

As a conclusion to this post, I would like to thank you for reading my posts about the "odd" looking animals which reside in the great oceans. I hope that I've opened your eyes to things you never really thought about before, or things you just plain didn't know. This being said, I declare the AOTW miniseries of exceptionally odd fish over. (that doesn't mean I won't throw in some funny lookin' critters along the way, though!)

Thank you! And have a great day! (or morning, or possibly afternoon, or noon, or tea time, or supper, or midnight, or half past a monkey's... well, you get the point!)