Stomatopod Images

Beautiful pic of a mantis shrimp as it pensively surveys its surroundings. This handsome smasher was featured in the PBS series Secrets of the Ocean Realm (Episode 1:Cathedral in the Sea), where it used its formidable weaponry to drive off a very large octopus from the vicinity of its burrow.

Unlike Odontodactylus and even some of the smaller smashers, it does not have an enlargement of its dactyl "elbow", but it nevertheless packs an extremely strong punch.