mantis shrimp

American

noun

any stomatopod crustacean having a pair of appendages modified for grasping prey and resembling those of a mantis.

mantis shrimp British

noun

any of various burrowing marine shrimplike crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda that have a pair of large grasping appendages: subclass Malacostraca See also squilla

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of mantis shrimp

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"In natural fights, we see mantis shrimp coil their tails in front of their bodies like a shield. I wanted to know how this behavioral use of the tail changed how they receive impacts."

From Science Daily • May 10, 2024

This eyeshine adaptation was first discovered in mantis shrimp larvae in 2014.

From Slate • Feb. 16, 2023

She discussed her favorite episode of “Octonauts,” about mantis shrimp.

From Washington Post • Oct. 15, 2022

By comparing bar lengths in 36 species with known relationships on the mantis shrimp family tree, they showed the shortest bar often changed as a new species evolved.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 22, 2022

Yong moves beyond the known unknowns — just how does a mantis shrimp, with its complex eyes, see?

From Seattle Times • Jul. 6, 2022

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023