Mantis shrimps' satellite-like eyes help them perceive colours like no one else

Researchers have found that the process that mantis shrimp uses to discriminate colours is different.he photoreceptors of mantis shrimp's are arranged in a series of channels which range from red to ultraviolet.

When Justin Marshall of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia and his team presented mantis shrimp presented the crustaceans with coloured objects, out of which only one was associated with a food reward, they often failed to distinguish between colours which humans see as distinct, like dark yellow and light orange, New Scientist reported.

Marshall said that the photoreceptors respond in a particular pattern, which are then sent to the brain.

The system seems to allow mantis shrimp to quickly identify basic colours without much brain processing.

As the mantis shrimp scans an object, the image moves between different photoreceptors, each of which responds differently, and it is this sequence, rather than comparisons between the photoreceptors, that they use to identify colours.

The system may be a useful trick for their fast-paced lifestyle, which involves clubbing prey with appendages at up to 23 m/s.