← all shorts

Concept

Odontodactylus scyllarus

A peacock mantis shrimp with vibrant red appendages and a blue-green head is shown against a neutral background, highlighting its unique coloration and structure.

The peacock mantis shrimp, a stomatopod crustacean native to Indo-Pacific reefs from East Africa to Guam. Adults reach about eighteen centimetres and live in self-excavated burrows, ambushing snails, crabs, and small fish with a hammer-like second pair of thoracic appendages. The species is the most-studied of roughly four hundred and fifty stomatopods and the reference animal for nearly all of the club-mechanics work.

Mentioned in 2 articles