Multimodal signals: ultraviolet reflectance and chemical cues in stomatopod agonistic encounters
TL;DR
Mantis shrimp use UV light to see their opponent's threat display and chemical cues to sense their state—neither channel alone provides enough information to avoid fatal miscalculation.
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First demonstration that mantis shrimp use both UV reflectance and chemical cues in combat—showing these form a multimodal signal system where each channel conveys different information about opponent quality.
Key Findings from Franklin et al. (2016)
- UV reflectance and chemical cues provide different information about opponents
- Blocking UV changed contest behavior differently than blocking chemical sensing
- Shrimp continuously flick antennae during fights to sample changing chemical signals
- UV enhances visibility of meral spot threat display for assessing fighting capability
- Mantis shrimp have 16 photoreceptor types—the most complex visual system known