The Mantis Shrimp Sees 16 Color Channels — Humans Can Only See 3

The mantis shrimp (order Stomatopoda) is a small, brightly colored crustacean. It is also one of the most extraordinary visual systems ever evolved.

Humans have 3 types of color receptors (red, green, blue cones). Most birds and reptiles have 4. The mantis shrimp has 16 types, plus the ability to see ultraviolet, polarized, and circularly polarized light — the only known animal that can distinguish circular polarization.

What This Means in Practice

Surprisingly, recent research suggests mantis shrimp do not actually distinguish colors better than humans — instead, they pre-process color information at the eye level rather than the brain. This allows extremely fast color recognition without much cognitive processing — perfect for an animal whose strikes happen faster than the human eye can register.

Other Mantis Shrimp Superpowers

• Strike speed: Their dactyl club accelerates to 50 mph in 800 microseconds — the fastest movement of any animal
• Force: Each strike delivers ~1,500 N — enough to crack an aquarium glass
• Cavitation bubbles: The strike is so fast it creates underwater shockwaves with temperatures briefly hotter than the sun's surface
• Eyesight: Each eye moves independently, and each has a complex array of 12 to 16 photoreceptors

Why So Much Vision?

Mantis shrimp live in coral reefs filled with brightly colored prey, predators, and mates — and they need to make split-second decisions in a chaotic visual environment. Their visual system is not built for fine color discrimination — it is built for speed.