A metre-deep burrow on open sand with a pair living in it, and only the eyes showing.
The largest mantis shrimp, reaching about 40 cm, banded the whole way along the body in broad dark brown and cream stripes. It is a spearing species rather than a smashing one — the raptorial appendages carry rows of long barbed spines and are used to impale soft prey, chiefly fish, where the peacock mantis shrimp uses a club to break shells. The eyes are stalked and mobile and are usually the only part of the animal visible.
Excavates a vertical burrow in open sand that can run a metre deep, with a raised rim of ejected sediment around the mouth, and a mated pair holds a single burrow for years. Hunting is done from the entrance at dusk and after dark: the animal waits with eyes and antennae clear of the rim and strikes upward at anything passing. The practical approach is to find the rim first and settle a metre away without touching the sand; a shadow or a vibration puts it down for several minutes. Recorded from about 3 to 30 m across the Indo-Pacific.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
