Shrimps that pay attention: saccadic eye movements in stomatopod crustaceans
No Thumbnail Available
Links to Files
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2014-02-19
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Marshall NJ, Land MF, Cronin TW. 2014 Shrimps that pay attention: saccadic eye movements in stomatopod crustaceans. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 369: 20130042. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0042
Rights
This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Subjects
Abstract
Discovering that a shrimp can flick its eyes over to a fish and follow up by
tracking it or flicking back to observe something else implies a ‘primate-like’
awareness of the immediate environment that we do not normally associate
with crustaceans. For several reasons, stomatopods (mantis shrimp) do not
fit the general mould of their subphylum, and here we add saccadic, acquisitional
eye movements to their repertoire of unusual visual capabilities.
Optically, their apposition compound eyes contain an area of heightened
acuity, in some ways similar to the fovea of vertebrate eyes. Using rapid eye
movements of up to several hundred degrees per second, objects of interest
are placed under the scrutiny of this area. While other arthropod species,
including insects and spiders, are known to possess and use acute zones in
similar saccadic gaze relocations, stomatopods are the only crustacean
known with such abilities. Differences among species exist, generally reflecting
both the eye size and lifestyle of the animal, with the larger-eyed more
sedentary species producing slower saccades than the smaller-eyed, more
active species. Possessing the ability to rapidly look at and assess objects is ecologically
important for mantis shrimps, as their lifestyle is, by any standards,
fast, furious and deadly.