A peacock mantis shrimp uses the force and velocity of its
powerful dactyl club to smash the shell of its snail prey. Mantis
shrimp are fearsome—and intelligent—invertebrates. They
have complex forms of communication, are capable of learning,
can retrieve memories of previous encounters, and can adjust
their strategies when fighting with other shrimps.
ability to see the low-energy fluorescent colors, so by removing blue light,
the filters allow the fish to see fluorescent reds and greens and yellows.
Other marine species don’t have a similar filter and will therefore see only
the high-energy blue light and not the glowing greens and reds and yellows.
Scientists and others who want to observe biofluorescence use intense blue
flashlights to excite the biofluorescent molecules, and they film through
blue light filters.
4 0 • B i o l u m i n e s c e n c e
