Kingdom:

Phylum:
Subphylum:
Class:
Order:
Family:
Genus:
Species:
Common name(s):

Animalia
Arthropoda
Crustacea
Malacostraca
Stomatopoda
Pseudosquillidae
Pseudosquilla
P. ciliata
Common mantis shrimp,
Alupihang dagat

General Background:
Pseudosquilla ciliata is known by the names: common mantis shrimp, rainbow mantis
shrimp, checkered-eye mantis shrimp, and ciliated mantis shrimp. In the Philippines, locals call it
Alupihang dagat. They belong to the order Stomatopoda, where all mantis shrimps are placed.
Thus, they are called stomatopods.
The name, mantis shrimp, is derived from its similarities to both the mantis and the
shrimp. However, they are not considered shrimps by definition. The distinctive reason why
they are not considered true shrimps is the possession of specialized prey-capturing/killing
limbs known as raptorial appendages. By this definition, mantis shrimps may either be a smasher
or a spearer. Smashers possess a club that is used to bludgeon or smash their meals apart.
Spearers, on the other hand, are armed with spiny appendages topped with barbed tips that are
used to stab and snag prey. Both types strike by rapidly unfolding and swinging at their prey,
inflicting serious damage even to prey with significantly greater size. In smashers, these weapons
are employed with an acceleration of 102,000 m/s and a speed of 25 m/s. Speeds are found to be
slower in spearers. Certain species of mantis shrimp can can deliver a blow so powerful that they
have been known to burst through their glass tanks. Smashers dine on hard-shelled organisms
such as crabs snails, and rock oysters while spearers prefer the meat of softer animals such as
fish, shrimps, and worms. P. ciliata is considered a spearer. P. ciliata are not recommended as
pets as they are considered aggressive. They can be placed in a secure aquarium however, with
only suitable cohabitants such as gastropods and large crabs. Aquarium requirements include a
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temperature of 21-28 C, a salinity of 33-36 PSU, and a sand base in which the mantis shrimp
can dig its usual U-shaped burrow.
Body Features/Dimensions:
The distinguishing characteristics of P. ciliata are: stalked eyes which are cylindrical and
with a hemispherical cornea, rostral plate lacking a small spine at the front, carapace that does
not bear large black spots, telson having three keel-like ridges on either side of a central ridge,
and a base of each uropod terminating in two slender flattened spines, where the innermost is the
shorter.
P. ciliata can grow a total length of 9.5 cm (3.7 inches) long. Its color varies upon its habitat.
Species living in a seagrass beds often turn green, while species living in coralline algae will
often turn red. The colors range from yellow to near black and may be plain, striped, or marbled.
One of the most interesting features of P. ciliata is its eyes, which is also a characteristic
shared among the mantis shrimps of the order Stomatopoda. The mantis shrimp has one of the
most elaborate visual systems ever discovered. Humans possess three types of color receptive
cones in their eyes. The eyes of a mantis shrimp, however, carries 16 types of color receptive
cones. This gives them the ability to recognize colors that are unimaginable by other species. A
suggested advantage of this visual system is the recognition of coral and prey species that are
often transparent or semi-transparent.

Nutrition:
Spearers are usually ambush predators but a few hunt away from their burrow.
Pseudosquilla ciliata is one of them. They are diurnal, which means that they venture during the
day and stay in their burrow during the night. A reason for this is because forage when it is low
tide during the day in order to avoid large fish predators. P. ciliata primarily feeds on soft-bodied
prey such as shrimp, small fish, and annelids. However, it may also eat small crabs and even
other stomatopods (mantis shrimps) especially if they are trapped or disabled by prolonged
exposure during low tides.
Reproduction:
In nature, males normally have to court the females. In P. ciliata, however, the mating
roles are reversed. The female P. ciliata has to court the male P. ciliata. This is accomplished
through various techniques and visual displays. The males usually prefer females bigger than
their own body size. P. ciliata that have mated with each other will not remate for several hours
but will mate with a new partner within minutes. Once a male has chosen a suitable mate,
copulation begins.
Females have paired ovaries and cement glands that secrete a substance to hold the eggs
together during brooding. Males have paired testes, and penes on their last pair of walking legs
which transfer sperm to the genital slit of a female during copulation. The female stores this
sperm in the seminal receptacle. The seminal receptacle is connected to the oviduct where a

gonopore is released. The eggs are fertilized and when the female is ready to spawn, it releases
cement gland material along with the eggs onto it, and provides maternal care until it hatches.
After the eggs hatch, planktonic larvae leaves the burrow. These larvae go through several
developmental stages to become adults.
Population Distribution

P. ciliata is widely distributed in shallow seas across the tropical Indo-Pacific region and
on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. It is usually found burrowing in sandy and muddy areas and
in seagrass beds. It can also be found in coral rubble, under boulders, and on rocky sea flats. Its
depth range is from the lower shore down to a depth of at least 86 m (282 ft.)