Meral-Spot Reflectance Signals Weapon Performance in the Mantis Shrimp<i>Neogonodactylus oerstedii</i>(Stomatopoda)

Franklin, Amanda M.; Donatelli, Cassandra M.; Culligan, Casey R.; Tytell, Eric D.

doi:10.1086/700836

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…During aggression sequences, often both mantis shrimp spread their front raptors to show the species-specific colour of their meral spot to evaluate their opponent – an act that may lead to either fighting or submission ( Caldwell and Dingle, 1975 ; Dingle and Caldwell, 1969 ; Green and Patek, 2015 ; 2018 ). Both the intensity and chromaticity of the meral spot are a signal of aggression in some species: a darker meral spot indicates a stronger strike force, and a lighter meral spot often leads to the receiver increasing antagonism ( Caldwell and Dingle, 1975 ; Franklin et al, 2017 ; 2019 ; Hazlett, 1979 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colour vision in stomatopod crustaceans: more questions than answers

Streets

England

Marshall

2022

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Stomatopod crustaceans, or mantis shrimps, are known for their extensive range of spectral sensitivities but relatively poor spectral discrimination. Instead of the colour-opponent mechanism of other colour vision systems, the 12 narrow-band colour channels they possess may underlie a different method of colour processing. We investigated one hypothesis, in which the photoreceptors are proposed to act as individual wave-band detectors, interpreting colour as a parallel pattern of photoreceptor activation, rather than a ratiometric comparison of individual signals. This different form of colour detection has been used to explain previous behavioural tests in which low saturation blue was not discriminated from grey, potentially because of similar activation patterns. Results here, however, indicate that the stomatopod, Haptosquilla trispinosa was able to easily distinguish several colours, including blue of both high and low saturation, from greys. The animals did show a decrease in performance over time in an artificially lit environment, indicating plasticity in colour discrimination ability. This rapid plasticity, most likely the result of a change in opsin (visual pigment) expression, has now been noted in several animal lineages (both invertebrate and vertebrate) and is a factor we suggest needing care and potential re-examination in any colour-based behavioural tests. As for stomatopods, it remains unclear why they achieve poor colour discrimination using the most comprehensive set of spectral sensitivities in the animal kingdom and also what form of colour processing they may utilise.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colour vision in stomatopod crustaceans: more questions than answers

Streets

England

Marshall

2022

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Although we did not directly measure animal performance (sensu Arnold, 1983), our comparisons of velocity and energetics across the contexts of feeding and sparring may inform studies of animal performance. Many performance measurements are conducted in laboratory conditions, for example by placing a force sensor inside the animal's jaws or claws, or directly in front of the animal, until it bites, grasps or strikes (Franklin et al, 2019;Green and Patek, 2015;Huber et al, 2005;Husak et al, 2006;Lappin et al, 2006;Wilson et al, 2007). These measurement conditions are both motivationally and mechanically distinct from the scenarios in which the animal performs its ecologically relevant activity (Arnold, 1983).…”

Section: Energetics and Effort In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context-dependent scaling of kinematics and energetics during contests and feeding in mantis shrimp

Green

McHenry

Patek

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Measurements of energy use, and its scaling with size, are critical to understanding how organisms accomplish myriad tasks. For example, energy budgets are central to game theory models of assessment during contests and underlie patterns of feeding behavior. Clear tests connecting energy to behavioral theory require measurements of the energy use of single individuals for particular behaviors. Many species of mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda: Crustacea) use elastic energy storage to power high-speed strikes that they deliver to opponents during territorial contests and to hardshelled prey while feeding. We compared the scaling of strike kinematics and energetics between feeding and contests in the mantis shrimp Neogonodactylus bredini. We filmed strikes with highspeed video, measured strike velocity and used a mathematical model to calculate strike energy. During contests, strike velocity did not scale with body size but strike energy scaled positively with size. Conversely, while feeding, strike velocity decreased with increasing size and strike energy did not vary according to body size. Individuals most likely achieved this strike variation through differential compression of their exoskeletal spring prior to the strike. Post hoc analyses found that N. bredini used greater velocity and energy when striking larger opponents, yet variation in prey size was not accompanied by varying strike velocity or energetics. Our estimates of energetics inform prior tests of contest and feeding behavior in this species. More broadly, our findings elucidate the role behavioral context plays in measurements of animal performance.

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“…During aggression sequences, often both mantis shrimp spread their front raptors to show the species-specific colour of their meral spot to evaluate their opponent; an act which may either lead to fighting or submission (Caldwell and Dingle, 1975;Dingle and Caldwell, 1969;Patek, 2015, 2018). Both intensity and chromaticity of the meral spot is a signal of aggression in some species: a darker meral spot indicates a stronger strike force, and a lighter meral spot often leads to the receiver increasing antagonism (Caldwell and Dingle, 1975;Franklin et al, 2017Franklin et al, , 2019Hazlett, 1979).…”

Section: Scyllarusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colour Vision in Stomatopod Crustaceans: more questions than answers

Streets

England

Marshall

2021

Preprint

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Stomatopod crustaceans, or mantis shrimps, are known for their extensive range of spectral sensitivities but relatively poor spectral discrimination. Instead of the colour-opponent mechanism of other colour vision systems, the 12 narrow-band colour channels they possess may underlie a different method of colour processing. We investigated one hypothesis, in which the photoreceptors are proposed to act as individual wave-band detectors, interpreting colour as a parallel pattern of photoreceptor activation, rather than a ratiometric comparison of individual signals. This different form of colour detection has been used to explain previous behavioural tests in which low saturation blue was not discriminated from grey potentially because of similar activation patterns. Results here, however, indicate that the stomatopod, Haptosquilla trispinosa was able to easily distinguish several colours, including blue of both high and low saturation, from greys. The animals did show a decrease in performance over time in an artificially lit environment, indicating plasticity in colour discrimination ability. This rapid plasticity, most likely the result of a change in opsin (visual pigment) expression, has now been noted in several animal lineages (both invertebrate and vertebrate) and is a factor we suggest needing care and potential re-examination in any colour-based behavioural tests. As for stomatopods, it remains unclear why they achieve poor colour discrimination using the most comprehensive set of spectral sensitivities in the animal kingdom and also what form of colour processing they may utilise.

show abstract

Meral-Spot Reflectance Signals Weapon Performance in the Mantis ShrimpNeogonodactylus oerstedii(Stomatopoda)

Cited by 16 publications

References 75 publications

Colour vision in stomatopod crustaceans: more questions than answers

Colour vision in stomatopod crustaceans: more questions than answers

Context-dependent scaling of kinematics and energetics during contests and feeding in mantis shrimp

Colour Vision in Stomatopod Crustaceans: more questions than answers

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