For most people, vision feels complete. We assume the world we see is the world that exists. Colours appear vivid, shapes are recognisable and movement seems effortless to detect. Yet modern biology has revealed a humbling truth: human vision captures only a small fraction of the information present in our environment. Hidden beneath tropical oceans lives an extraordinary marine predator that experiences reality in ways almost impossible for humans to imagine. The mantis shrimp possesses one of the most sophisticated visual systems ever discovered, alongside one of the fastest and most powerful biological strikes in the animal kingdom. Far from being simply another remarkable sea creature, it has become a source of inspiration for scientists developing the next generation of medical imaging, artificial intelligence, robotics and optical technologies.
The mantis shrimp’s eyes are unlike those of almost any other animal. Humans possess three primary types of colour-sensitive photoreceptors, allowing us to perceive millions of colours through combinations of red, green and blue wavelengths. The mantis shrimp, depending on the species, possesses up to 16 different classes of photoreceptors, enabling it to detect not only a broader range of visible light but also ultraviolet wavelengths and different forms of polarised light that are completely invisible to human vision.
This extraordinary sensory system has often led to the popular claim that mantis shrimp “see more colours than any other animal.” The scientific reality is more nuanced and even more fascinating. Research suggests that, rather than creating richer colour combinations like humans do, mantis shrimp rapidly identify different wavelengths through specialised receptors that act almost like highly efficient biological scanners. Their visual system appears optimised for speed and decision-making rather than producing the same kind of colour discrimination humans experience. In other words, evolution designed an entirely different strategy for seeing the world.
For scientists and engineers, this distinction is immensely important. Modern computer vision systems, autonomous vehicles and medical imaging technologies increasingly face the same challenge: how can machines identify critical information as quickly and efficiently as possible without processing unnecessary data? The mantis shrimp demonstrates that there may be multiple solutions to this problem, challenging long-held assumptions about how intelligent vision systems should operate.
Its visual abilities are only half the story. The mantis shrimp is equally famous for its astonishing strike. Using a highly specialised appendage that stores elastic energy before releasing it almost instantaneously, some species accelerate their clubs faster than a bullet leaving a handgun. The impact is so rapid that it generates cavitation bubbles, producing secondary shockwaves powerful enough to stun prey even if the initial strike misses. These repeated impacts have been documented breaking the shells of crabs, molluscs and, in rare cases, cracking thin aquarium glass.
Engineers studying impact-resistant materials have become increasingly interested in the mantis shrimp’s striking appendage because it survives thousands of these extraordinary impacts without shattering. The club combines exceptionally hard outer layers with internal structures that absorb and redistribute force through intricate microscopic architecture. This natural design has inspired research into next-generation protective equipment, aerospace materials, sports equipment and lightweight armour capable of resisting repeated high-energy impacts.
The shrimp’s eyes have attracted equally intense interest from medical researchers. Human medicine increasingly depends upon advanced optical technologies for diagnosing disease. Eye scanners, cancer detection systems, surgical imaging, endoscopy and microscopic diagnostics all rely upon accurately interpreting light. Scientists believe that biological strategies evolved by the mantis shrimp may contribute to more sensitive imaging systems capable of detecting abnormalities earlier and with greater precision than current technologies.
Polarised light detection represents one particularly promising area of research. While humans cannot naturally perceive polarisation, the mantis shrimp uses it extensively to navigate, locate prey and communicate. Engineers are now exploring polarisation-sensitive cameras inspired by these biological systems for applications ranging from underwater exploration and environmental monitoring to cancer detection, where subtle changes in tissue polarisation may reveal disease invisible to conventional imaging.
Artificial intelligence is also benefiting from these biological insights. Modern AI systems rely heavily on visual data, yet processing enormous volumes of imagery demands substantial computational resources. The mantis shrimp illustrates an alternative philosophy: efficient detection rather than exhaustive analysis. Researchers investigating neuromorphic computing and biologically inspired machine vision increasingly study organisms like the mantis shrimp to design intelligent systems that consume less energy while maintaining exceptional speed and accuracy.
Robotics presents another frontier influenced by these discoveries. Autonomous underwater vehicles often struggle with poor visibility, changing light conditions and complex environments. Incorporating biologically inspired visual systems capable of detecting multiple light properties simultaneously could dramatically improve navigation, object recognition and environmental awareness. Future exploration robots operating in oceans, disaster zones or even other planets may owe part of their sensory architecture to lessons learned from this remarkable marine predator.
The mantis shrimp also highlights the growing importance of biomimicry in modern innovation. Increasingly, humanity’s greatest technological advances are emerging not by competing with nature but by learning from it. Evolution has spent hundreds of millions of years refining biological solutions to problems engineers continue confronting today. Every organism represents an archive of highly optimised engineering principles waiting to be understood.
The economic implications are substantial. Optical technologies, advanced sensors, machine vision, medical imaging and artificial intelligence collectively represent industries worth hundreds of billions of pounds globally. Companies capable of translating biological discoveries into commercial technologies will shape the next generation of healthcare, manufacturing, defence, environmental monitoring and autonomous systems. Nature is becoming one of the world’s most valuable research laboratories.
For Africa, these developments underscore the importance of investing in interdisciplinary science that combines biology, engineering, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. The continent’s extensive marine biodiversity remains relatively underexplored from a technological perspective. Future breakthroughs in optics, healthcare and robotics may emerge from organisms inhabiting African coastlines and coral reefs, reinforcing the strategic value of marine conservation alongside scientific research.
Importantly, popular accounts sometimes overstate the mantis shrimp’s abilities. While it does possess an extraordinary visual system and one of the fastest strikes in nature, scientists continue debating exactly how its brain processes colour information compared with humans. Likewise, reports of routinely smashing aquarium glass are exceptional rather than typical. The true scientific significance lies not in sensational claims but in the remarkable biological engineering that evolution has achieved.
Perhaps the greatest lesson offered by the mantis shrimp is that intelligence is not measured solely by brain size or computational power. It is equally reflected in how efficiently organisms gather, process and respond to information. Evolution has repeatedly demonstrated that sophisticated solutions often emerge through entirely different designs than those humans would naturally imagine.
History consistently shows that humanity advances fastest when it studies nature with humility. Birds inspired aviation. Sharks influenced hydrodynamic design. Geckos transformed adhesive science. Octopuses reshaped robotics. Today, the mantis shrimp is quietly redefining how scientists think about vision, materials science and intelligent sensing.
The future of innovation will increasingly depend upon translating biological intelligence into technological capability. Every flash of colour detected by the mantis shrimp, every precisely targeted strike and every remarkable adaptation reminds us that nature remains one of humanity’s greatest engineers. In the decades ahead, this extraordinary marine predator may help build safer medical devices, smarter artificial intelligence, stronger materials and more advanced imaging systems, proving once again that some of the world’s most revolutionary technologies have already been perfected beneath the sea.
