12 color receptors – and still bad at seeing colors?

Nº 006 · Nature · 50 sec

12 color receptors – and still bad at seeing colors?

It has one of the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. And tells colors apart worse than we do.

The two large, striped compound eyes of a mantis shrimp against a black background — Photo: Cédric Peneau · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original

Four times as many channels

Human3 cone types
Mantis shrimp (some species)12 photoreceptor types

We see color with three types of cones. Some mantis shrimp have twelve different photoreceptors – from deep ultraviolet to far red.

Your guess

Who tells similar shades apart better?

A colorful peacock mantis shrimp on the reef floor — A peacock mantis shrimp. Researchers suspect it doesn't compare colors finely but recognizes them in a flash – by scanning its surroundings with its eyes.Photo: Jens Petersen · CC BY 2.5 · Original