Mantis shrimp identify an object by its shape rather than its color during visual recognition

Abstract

Mantis shrimp commonly inhabit seafloor environments with an abundance of visual features including conspecifics, predators, prey, and landmarks used for navigation. While these animals are capable of discriminating color and polarization, it is unknown what specific attributes of a visual object are important during recognition. Here we show that mantis shrimp of the species Neogonodactylus oerstedii are able to learn the shape of a trained target (p=0.048). Further, when the shape and color of a target which they had been trained to identify were placed in conflict, N. oerstedii tended to choose the target of the trained shape over the target of the trained color (p=0.054). Thus, we conclude that the shape of the target was more salient than its color during recognition by N. oerstedii, suggesting that the shapes of objects, such as landmarks or other animals, are important for their identification by the species.

Colour vision in stomatopod crustaceans

“…Later, Thoen et al [25] trained members of a different species, Haptosquilla trispinosa, to discriminate paired spectral lights from each other. Most recently, Patel et al [34] demonstrated that individuals of N. oerstedii can discriminate identical objects of different colours (red versus green). All these tests involved a food reward, but it seems likely that stomatopods also use their colour vision in species recognition and in signalling, although these situations have not yet been investigated.…”

“…When associating coloured shapes with food, the stomatopod N. oerstedii learns the shapes' colours, but if the shape and colour are placed in conflict, individuals of this species turn to shape as the primary identifier [34]. In another example of shifting modes of visual analysis, individuals of G. smithii reduce the use of visual displays in dim light, relying on chemoreception when communicating [78].…”

An Improved Bio-Orientation Method Based on Direct Sunlight Compensation for Imaging Polarization Sensor

“…As sunlight traverses the Earth's atmosphere, it establishes a stable polarization distribution pattern across the entire sky due to the scattering effects of atmospheric molecules and aerosol particles [4][5][6]. Biological studies have indicated that organisms such as mantis shrimp [7], octopuses [8], locust [9], and desert ants [10] can utilize their unique visual structures to perceive the polarization patterns of the entire sky, employing this information for self-orientation. Inspired by biomimetic navigation mechanisms, polarized navigation has demonstrated advanced performance in unmanned aerial vehicles [11,12], unmanned ground vehicles [13][14][15], and other navigation domains.…”