COLORFUL QUARRY: The purple-spotted mantis shrimp (Gonodactylus smithii) is strikingly patterned, but proves difficult to catch in its coral reef habitats.ROY CALDWELL, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Mantis shrimps are not the easiest animals to work with, as neuroanatomist Nicholas Strausfeld knows firsthand. Not least, there’s the challenge of capturing the crustaceans in the wild. Also known as stomatopods, mantis shrimps live in burrows in shallow seawater and have earned the descriptive nickname “thumb splitters,” thanks to their tendency to use their sharp, powerful claws to slash at prey and pursuers.
“At low tide, you wade around and you try and catch these things,” says Strausfeld, who has plenty of experience chasing after the purple-spotted mantis shrimp (Gonodactylus smithii) with a small handheld net in the tropical waters around Lizard Island, Australia. “They’re incredibly fast—it’s very difficult.”
For Strausfeld and other neurobiologists, however, all the trouble is well worth it, as these ...
