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“This critter shows us, like many others below the surface, that aliens are not on faraway planets in space but here, on planet Earth with us. This tiger mantis shrimp poked up from the volcanic sands during a night dive, seemingly equally curious about me as I was about the shrimp. Mantis shrimp possess the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, featuring 12–16 types of colour receptors – humans have three – plus, they have the fastest punch in the animal kingdom equalling a 22 caliber bullet. No bigger than a ping-pong ball, it was a challenge to get my skinny beam of light to go perfectly over the shrimp, isolating it from the background. Luckily, its curiosity meant the crustacean was patient enough to give me a few minutes to fiddle and eventually capture its golden, sparkly nature.”
Species: Lysiosquillina maculata
Location: Camiguin Island, Philippines
Photographer: Iris Uijttewaal
