The peacock mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus scyllarus, also known as the harlequin mantis shrimp or painted mantis shrimp is a large mantis shrimp native to the Indo-Pacificfrom Guam to East Africa.
Description
O. scyllarus is one of the larger, more colorful mantis shrimps commonly seen, ranging in size from 3 cm to 18 cm. They are primarily green in color, with orange legs and leopard-like spots on the anterior carapace.
They are burrowers, constructing U-shaped holes in the loose substrate near the bases of coral reefs in water ranging from 3 m to 40 m deep.
This mantis shrimp is a smasher, with club shaped raptorial appendages. An active hunter, it prefers gastropods, crustaceans, and bivalves, and will repeatedly smash its prey until it can gain access to the soft tissue for consumption.
Peacock mantis shrimp
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Stomatopoda
Family:
Odontodactylidae
Genus:
Odontodactylus
Species:
O. scyllarus
Binomial name
Odontodactylus scyllarus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
References
- Roy Caldwell. "Roy's List of Stomatopods for the Aquarium". Retrieved 2006-07-18.
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Stomatopoda |
| Family: | Odontodactylidae |
| Genus: | Odontodactylus |
| Species: | O. scyllarus |
(Linnaeus, 1758)
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