Marine life  /  Mantis shrimps
5 of 1316 species
Group

Mantis shrimps

Stomatopods: the smashers, which break shells with a club, and the spearers, which take fish with a barbed strike. Both strike faster than the eye follows.

Species
5
Depth
1–30 m
Rarity range
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a weekto 4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Night only
1
Can hurt a diver
5
Destinations
6

The two kinds are found in different places. The peacock mantis is a daylight animal at the mouth of its burrow and will carry its eggs to the entrance; the zebra mantis is a pair of eyes at the top of a hole up to a metre deep on open sand, and shows itself mostly at dusk and after dark.

The strike is the reason for the hazard note, not any tendency to use it on a diver. A large smasher can break a camera port, and the injury on record is to a hand put where the animal could reach it. Left alone they withdraw.

5 species

Photographed first, then commonest
Peacock mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus scyllarus
Peacock mantis shrimp
Odontodactylus scyllarus
Sand and rubble burrows · 3–30 m
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a weekin Lembeh Strait Needs treatment
Purple-spotted mantis shrimp, Odontodactylus latirostris
Purple-spotted mantis shrimp
Odontodactylus latirostris
Open sand and rubble · 5–30 m
4 stars of 5, two or three a seasonin Lembeh Strait Needs treatment

The other 3, written up but not yet photographed

Every one has a page. They are shown as a list rather than as pictures because nothing has been photographed or logged for them yet, and a species with nothing behind it should not sit in front of one that has.

Where they are recorded

How many of the 5 carry a record at each destination. A species usually carries several, so these do not add up to 5.

Lembeh Strait 5 Anilao 3 Dauin & Dumaguete 3 Bali 2 Ambon 1 Papua New Guinea 1

The other groups

Anemonefish 11 Angelfish 25 Batfish 3 Blennies 26 Butterflyfish 35 Cardinalfish 13 Damselfish 32 Dottybacks 5 Dragonets 5 Eels & garden eels 18 Flatfish 8 Frogfish & anglers 26 Goatfish 8 Gobies & dartfish 29 Groupers & anthias 42 Hawkfish 5 Jacks & open-water fish 29 Jawfish 4 Lizardfish & flatheads 10 Morays 26 Morwongs & trumpeters 4 Parrotfish 16 Pufferfish & boxfish 23 Rabbitfish 5 Scorpionfish & lionfish 47 Seahorses & pipefish 53 Shrimpgobies 17 Snappers, breams & sweetlips 39 Squirrelfish & soldierfish 9 Surgeonfish & unicornfish 26 Triggerfish & filefish 25 Trumpetfish & cornetfish 4 Wrasses 56 Other fish 46 Sharks & rays 63 Turtles, sea snakes & crocodiles 11 Marine mammals & birds 10 Cephalopods 36 Nudibranchs & sea slugs 137 Sea snails & shells 26 Shrimps 38 Crabs 45 Hermit crabs 10 Lobsters & squat lobsters 13 Isopods & parasitic crustaceans 5 Amphipods 2 Sea stars 18 Brittle stars & basket stars 7 Feather stars 2 Sea urchins 23 Sea cucumbers 12 Worms 11 Flatworms 3 Jellyfish & stinging drifters 10 Anemones & zoanthids 12 Corals & sponges 29 Sea squirts 4 Blackwater & plankton 52 Other invertebrates 2

All 1316 species in one index, with filters for destination, rarity and hazard.

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