Stomatopoda

Paul F. Clark, Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD

Dr Shane Ahyoung, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Stomatopods are a remarkable group of crustaceans known as mantis shrimps. This vernacular name is derived from their most distinctive character, an enlarged raptorial (adapted for seizing prey) claw which looks similar to that of the praying mantis. There are basically two types of claw adapted for smashing or spearing. Mantis shrimps have a long tail, which includes part of the thorax, the abdomen and the telson. This allows stomatopods to turn around in an extremely narrow space consequently they are highly adapted for living in burrows and crevices. They are found predominantly in tropical and subtropical waters, intertidally and subtidally. Stomatopods are aggressive predators.