crack Crack CRACK!!!

[catdoc]

Miss Omega has really settled in. I was on the computer, lights are off in the mantis tank when I started hearing little pop pop pops. At first, figured it was the kids. Don't know why it took me a few minutes to figure it out--it's Omega! When I went to investigate, I found hubby sitting by the tank trying to watch her (the reef is still lit w/vho right now in the same room, so there was a little light). She's working on another hermit. Judging from last night's carnage, I guess she'll finish him off pretty soon. I had put 10 hermits in there last week to "test" the tank. She's finished off 3 and this is the 4th she's working on now.

Should I pull out some of the hermits since she's going through them so quick? I worry that she might be stashing them rather than eating them. She is a 3" O.s. and these are teeny little dwarf red legged hermits. How much is too much to leave in there?

Hubby seems to be as taken with her almost as much as I am. We are amazed at how inquisitive (and defensive!) she is. When we go over to her tank for a visit, she comes out of the burrow to give us a once over. I also had to explain to my 5-year-old daughter why it can see but it has no pupils. (I didn't know she even knew what a pupil was!) Picture me trying to explain compound eyes to a preschooler. That then somehow led to a discussion of flounders and how their eyes migrate...

Anyway, I am excited that I now own the COOLEST mantis in the world. :lolspin:

 

[Aqua_expert19]

post a pick if you can that sounds awesome

 

[Absint Reefer]

she should feed as she get's hungry I doubt that she would eat herself to death

 

[catdoc]

I'm not worried about her over-eating so much as killing more than she can eat. I don't want a bunch of dead hermits fouling up the tank if she doesn't eat them all.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Well, Omega does have pupils - sort of - and if your daughter watches the eyes closely, she will see the "pseudopupils" flashing over the surface of the eye and eventually will figure out when Omega is looking straight at her eye. When you see three black spots in the eye, one on the mid-band and one in each hemisphere, the eye is lined up with your eye and is taking in the maximum amount of information on polarization, distance, and color. The black spots appear when an ommatidium is on axis with your eye (or camera lens) and no light is reflected back - just as happens when you look into someone's eyes and see a black pupil. Off axis, light is scattered and reflected back, so you see some color.

Roy

 

[catdoc]

So when we see the "crosshair" appearance, she's looking straight at us, right? I think the black lines were what she thought were pupils, guess she was more correct than we realized. My little protege,

Here's another pic. She was out scouting the tank looking for another hermit, I'm sure.

 

[catdoc]

And another. I'm like a mom showing off new baby pictures!

 

[Gonodactylus]

We often say that stomatopods have hexnocular vision with three areas of pseudopupils in each eye. Often when they are inspecting something, the eyes are rotated so that they do form a sort of cross hairs. In fact, the ommatidia in the central band do not seem to play a major role in depth perception. That is the roll of the areas in the dorsal and ventral hemisphere of the eye. (They also are involved in polarized light analysis.)

The color is remarkably dark brown for an O. s., although that could be in part a function of the lighting camera settings. I have seen young males as well as females this color.

Roy

 

[catdoc]

I think it's my crummy camera--she's more of an olive color.

 

[henn]

When you see three black spots in the eye, one on the mid-band and one in each hemisphere, the eye is lined up with your eye and is taking in the maximum amount of information on polarization, distance, and color.

 

[rwhhunt]

Corner of his eye

Corner of his eye

He (i think) still has his cross hairs right on me, despite his eyes pointing upwards!.. very interesting...

 

[catdoc]

Nice pictures, I really REALLY need a better camera!