Anatomy & Physiology
Mantis shrimps have a broad stomach located in the cephalotorax that is straight connect to their mouth opening. The digestive apparatus continues through a cecum located in a large part of their body that comprises even the telson. The hemal system contains arteries and capillaries and the heart is a tube that runs through the length of their body in which thirteen pairs of ostia can be found. Their brains are tripartite and the nervous system includes a pair of prolonged circumenteric connectives and a subesophageal ganglion that comprises the ganglia of the head and the first five thoracopods. The other appendages are controled by the ventral nerve cord (Ruppert, Fox & Barnes 2004).
Image 1: G. smithii showing its appendages |