All animals

How does a mantis shrimp see the world?

Up to sixteen colour channels, plus polarised light.

A colourful tropical coral reef underwaterHuman vision
A colourful tropical coral reef underwater, as it would appear to a mantis shrimp
Mantis shrimp vision

An impression only: more colour bands than our screens can show.

What's going on

Where you have three cone types, a mantis shrimp has around twelve to sixteen photoreceptor classes and reads the polarisation of light. Nobody can truly render that - this is an artistic impression of a far wider colour space.

Field of view

You: ~190°

Mantis shrimp: ~360°

Approximate horizontal field of view, seen from above. The dot is the head.

You vs the mantis shrimp

Low-light visionYou win
You
Mantis shrimp
Fine detailYou win
You
Mantis shrimp
Colour rangeMantis shrimp wins
You
Mantis shrimp
Motion detectionMantis shrimp wins
You
Mantis shrimp