Extraordinary creatures: mantis shrimp

With ∼500 species, mantis shrimp are found all over the world, from the deep sea to the shallow waters of coral reefs and range in size from less than 1 cm to the size of a person's forearm. Unlike most of their crustacean relatives, many mantis shrimp have eyes that see not only colour, but also into the ultraviolet spectrum. They have also a unique way of hunting their prey – using an evolved mouthpart to spear fish or crack open mollusc shells with a force capable of breaking their glass aquaria. Tom Cronin and Sheila Patek tell Journal of Experimental Biology about these extraordinary creatures and discuss some of their incredible biology, from their unique visual system to their amazing striking capabilities.