Rainbow Mantis Shrimp
The rainbow mantis shrimp (Pseudosquilla ciliata) is a mantis shrimp of tropical shores that can change color to match its surroundings. It is found across the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic.
The rainbow mantis shrimp (Pseudosquilla ciliata) is a mantis shrimp of tropical shores that can change color to match its surroundings. It is found across the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Rainbow Mantis Shrimp in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Ecdysozoa lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
Color-Changing Hunter
The shrimp varies from brown to green, blue and orange, matching the algae or rubble where it lives. It is a spearer that lurks in burrows and crevices.
Rainbow Eyes
Mantis shrimps have the most complex color vision known, with many types of photoreceptors, though they may not discriminate colors as finely as that suggests. See Spottail Mantis Shrimp.
Larval Drifters
The larvae drift in plankton for weeks, which spreads the species across oceans.
Rainbow Mantis Shrimp at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Pseudosquilla ciliata |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Malacostraca |
| Order | Stomatopoda |
| Family | Pseudosquillidae |
| Field Guide group | Ecdysozoa: Mandibulata (Mandibulates) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Circumtropical seagrass and reef predator with stalked trinocular compound eyes and barbed, jackknife-like raptorial second thoracopods ('spearers') used to impale soft-bodied fish and shrimp. |
| Order | Stomatopoda |
| Type | Spearer |
See Also
- Spottail Mantis Shrimp — a Mediterranean spearer
- Peacock Mantis Shrimp — a smasher