The black volcanic sand that is Amed’s trademark is home to plenty of weird and wonderful sea creatures, which makes Amed a dreamland for muck diving. From juvenile scorpionfish, pipefish, nudibranchs and sea slugs of every shape and colour, to octopus, seahorses, cuttlefish… you name it, we have it! But one of our favourite creatures is no doubt the peacock mantis shrimp.
The peacock mantis shrimp is one of the largest and most colourful species of stomatopods, and it finds its home in the tropical Indian and Western Pacific oceans. Just as is the case with peacock birds, male peacock mantis shrimp are more colourful than their female counterparts are. They sport a brilliantly coloured shell of green and blue hues, while females are mostly red. Their eyes are a shade of iridescent ruby and contain 12 colour receptors – that’s four times more than most animals and humans, which only have three. Imagine that! They also have one of the fastest punches in the animal kingdom: if they find a crab, clam or sea snail while they are out hunting for lunch, they can deliver a deadly punch in about 2 milliseconds. That’s what we call real FAST food! These are just a few of the many interesting facts about peacock mantis shrimp. For more, just have a look on the internet to find out more of the law-dropping things they can do.
While we are out and about diving among the sandy slopes and pretty corals that cover most of Amed’s dive sites, we always take a second look at any underwater burrow we find. You just never know when a beautiful peacock mantis shrimp might be hiding in there. In fact, earlier this month brother and sister Aiden and Alesha from Australia were on the last dive of their PADI Open Water Course and were lucky enough to see one of these beauties moving along a sandy slope right next to the famous World War II Liberty Wreck. A few days later, we saw another mantis shrimp swimming in haste during a night dive right in our House Reef, right in front of Two Fish Divers Amed Dive Resort.
Do you want to discover the secrets that lay beneath the surface in Amed? Are you ready to take your next course with us, and perhaps see a colourful peacock mantis shrimp while we are out there? For more information, or to make a reservation, fill in the form below and we will get right back to you. Happy bubbles!