Mantis Shrimp Eyes (for my 500th post!)

[ktuli]

Hi all - so I figured I should maybe do something a little special for my 500th post, and I didn't want to steal jupiterlush's creative firework shot idea, so instead you get to see some Mantis Shrimp eyes...

Camera folks should be impressed with those eyes as they are the most complex eyes known to man... they're able to see a much wider spectrum of light from us (spanning from infra-red all the way into the ultra-violet spectrum!), meaning they can see about ten times the number of colors we can, they do not lose depth perception when using only one eye, they can see and filter linear polarized light, and some species can even see circular polarized light. How cool would that be to be able to see polarized light without a filter?

These particular eyes belong to a Tiger Mantis Shrimp (Lysiosquillina maculata).

I know the DoF is a little too shallow and I should have gotten both eyes in clarity, but I really like how close I was able to get to this guy for this shot. Having been my first real dive photography experience with an SLR, I thought it was a good job.

Here's another slightly further away (that I have not yet done color correction on, so it still has a little bit of a blue color cast typical of shots taken at depth):

All C&C is welcome. Thanks for viewing. And for a story of how I almost jumped out of my skin trying to photograph another mantis shrimp, you'll have to head on over to my blog.

- Bill

[Katy Noelle]

Hmmmmm! You aren't really Bill Nye the Science Guy in disguise, are you? I'm getting seriously suspicious! That is cool that shrimp can see like that but, ah, no, don't tell me that.... I love to eat shrimp. It's, also, extremely cool that you could even take these photos. Then, there's the awesome fact that you're actually at 509 posts (boy, we're slow - sorry!!!) You're an awfully good sport to hang around us and we're all better for it, too. Here's to another five hundred and, er... nine posts!

[jiro]

I find it quite fascinating how well these sea creatures can really blend well with their surroundings. Without your explanation I would not probably realized that it was a shrimp, Bill. Underwater photography is something that amazes me. Thanks for sharing, Bill.

[ktuli]

Hmmmmm! You aren't really Bill Nye the Science Guy in disguise, are you? I'm getting seriously suspicious! That is cool that shrimp can see like that but, ah, no, don't tell me that.... I love to eat shrimp. It's, also, extremely cool that you could even take these photos. Then, there's the awesome fact that you're actually at 509 posts (boy, we're slow - sorry!!!) You're an awfully good sport to hang around us and we're all better for it, too. Here's to another five hundred and, er... nine posts!

Man - to be Bill Nye would be totally awesome. Actually, who I'd really love to be (and the Brits'll hopefully appreciate this) is Sir David Attenborough. I absolutely love that guy! I read his auto-biography, and he had the most fascinating life.

Tiger Mantis Shrimp as not really eatin' shrimp... I do believe they can be eaten, but they aren't - they're too smart for that. There are smaller species of mantis shrimps that are eaten in some countries, but not here in the US.

And thanks for the 509 well wishes... I'm really glad that I found this community and it is awesome to feel so welcomed and appreciated. I feel like I acquired dozens of friends as soon as I joined here.

I find it quite fascinating how well these sea creatures can really blend well with their surroundings. Without your explanation I would not probably realized that it was a shrimp, Bill. Underwater photography is something that amazes me. Thanks for sharing, Bill.

Willie, actually, this guy doesn't look much like a shrimp... and at 18 inches long, it resembles more of a lobster... and with the ability to strike with the speed of a .22 caliber bullet, no one calls him "shrimp" to his face. Unfortunately these shots are just of a small portion of its body - basically from its shoulders up in the second shot there. They live in a burrow they dig in the sandy bottom on the reef, so that is what you're seeing is him popping out of the top of his burrow.

As I inched in closer and closer for these shots, I was very nervous because these guys are very tempermental, and very intelligent, and have the ability (with that strike speed) to break the glass on the dome port (part that covers the lens) of an underwater housing which would have ruined my camera! There were a couple of us photographing this guy, and he would turn back and forth to focus on us individually - sometimes with just one of those incredible eyes rotating on its stalk, but other times squaring his shoulders to me... those were the times I got a bit more nervous!

But I'd give just about anything to be back there photographing him again right now!

- Bill