Feb 15, 2007

Peacock Mantis Monster

Kat of KungFoodie brought this delightful crustacean to my attention. You are looking into the alien eyes of a peacock mantis shrimp. This is a classic example of an animal whose only redeeming quality, as far as appearances go, are its colors. Despite the beautiful colors, there's no escaping the fact that if you encountered a large one in a dark alley, you would assume that you had entered a bad science fiction movie.

Thanks for the links, Kat. And thanks you, Francis, for letting me use your fantastic photo.

Photo courtesy: Francis























And, of course, like most every crustacean, these guys sometimes find themselves served up for dinner. Below are some that have been prepped for cooking. Yummy. I like them better colorful.

If you want to see a video of one of these in action, check out this link.

Photo courtesy: Masato

3 comments:

  1. BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for posting that. :)

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  2. these shrimp are known to have some VERY interesting abilities according to a show I saw on Animal Planet's "Most Extreme." Each eye has it's own sort of brain, resulting in immediate processing of prey. They can see ultraviolet colors and their eyes line up and focus on an object like a six-way cross-hair!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp

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