Mantis molt-regeneration: Eye(s)

[DensityMan]

Just when things were really starting to click with Tim (aside from the whole "Kryptonite" incident) he's gone and lost an eye.

That's right, he's short one eye (on his right side) and I'm not even sure who the culprt is. The prime suspects are a newly introduced (very small) six-line wrasse, "Krytonite" or possibly a hermit that he was wrestling with.

On the up side, he has been coming out more frequently and much farther than usual for him today. That seems pretty odd to me in theory though... if something had just torn my eye off I know I'd be curled up nursing myself back to full strength for a bit.

I can't think of anything I can do to help him out. So I guess I'm just posting here for support and comfort.

I assume that he will regen it (or start to) during his next molt. Is that a correct assumption?

 

[nebraskareef]

I don't know for sure, I doubt it. I don't know much about other animals molt's, so I'd say if they can re-grow there eyes, tim could too.

 

[Bruce]

If it is able to regrow the eye , it will be a slow process over several molts, not in one shot.

 

[RogueCorps]

So sorry to hear Density,

There was a post a while back from Dr. Roy saying that regenerating eyes is the one thing that they can't do.

I don't know if you might want to remove any potential threats from around him. It'd suck to lose the other eye. Glad to hear that he's doing fine though.

-Rogue

 

[DensityMan]

Anyone else ever have something like this happen to one of your mantids?

Can they survive/hunt with only one eye?

Hasn't opened his door yet this morning and I didn't see him over the weekend for the short time I was here either... He's always been real careful around the fish in his tank (Emblemaria pandionis and the six-line wrasse which was added the weekend before).

This sucks...

 

[AttackDonut]

When I had a Mantis Shrimp, he'd go into hiding for a week, apparently to molt, eat the old molt, and then emerge bigger.

Hopefully he'll do fine. Keep us informed.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Stomatopods can regenerate legs, antennae, and even part of their telson, but they cannot regenerate an eye as an eye. After several molts, he may develop an antennule where the eye was. I have had several animals do this and occasionally we find them in the field with a regenerated antennule where the eyestalk was lost. The reason for this has to do due with how the underlying tissue promotes differentiation in early development. Anyway, he will never grow back the eye.

The good news is that a one-eyed stomatopod can still feed normally since it has all of the range-finding equipment it needs in a single eye.

Eye loss is fairly common in the rough and tumble world of stomatopods. Stuff happens. Evolution has provided the back-up systems that allow the animal to keep going.

Roy

 

[DensityMan]

Good to hear...

Thanks for the comforting words, Doc.