Mantis smell or see prey?

[SkinnyPete]

Just curious as I've noticed everytime I feed my peacock mantis - whether it be live or frozen seafood...he runs around the tank flipping out looking for food.

Sometimes it takes him quite a long time to find the food eventhough it's right in front of him. I was under the impression that they had very good sight.

His smashers are just growing back so I haven't seen him kill anything. I threw a small hermit in there with him and same story. He seemed to smell or sense it there but kept running back and forth nearly running right over the crab a couple times until he stumbled upon it.

Just wondering if this is normal behavior.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Diurnal stomatopods are visual predators, but they also have a keen sense of smell. Many of the items placed in a tank as food are not moving and don't look much like normal prey so they are probably not visually identified. ALso, much of the feeding that a smasher like O. s does occurs in the dark burrow. When breaking up a shell, they can't see what is happening. Rather they feel and smell the results. If you watch an animal during an attack even in the open, they will usually use their antennules and and antennae trying to locate small bits and pieces of the prey that were knocked off in the attack.

Roy

 

[sandlot13]

interesting point...... i never though about that dr. roy, but it makes sense. Im guessing this is because the mantis is trying to keep its eyes out of the way of a potential piece of shrapnel or a counter attack by its prey.....