Spottail Mantis Shrimp

Double eyespot on tail. In u-shaped burrows on sandy-muddy bottoms from 10 to 250+ m. Like praying mantis, all mantis shrimps have a pair of enlarged raptorial arms are used to capture preys; these arms may either have sharp elongated spines and spear the prey or they have a club-shaped, heavily calcified joint and smash the prey. Strike of arms is one of the fastest movements (3-8 ms) in animal kingdom. It is Day-active, visually hunting. Very complex eyes on highly mobile stalks.

Mediterranean, Portugal to Angola, Madeira and Canary Islands.

In u-shaped burrows on sandy-muddy bottoms from 10 to 250+ m.