📸 PhotoPhoto: Serguei S. Dukachev · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Japanese mantis shrimp
Oratosquilla oratoria (Japanese mantis shrimp · シャコ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum total length of 18.5 cm is nearly 9 tenths of the short side of an A4 sheet of paper (21 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 The body length of 9.6 cm at which it begins reaching maturity is slightly longer than the long side of a credit card (85.6 mm) (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Japanese mantis shrimp is a stomatopod that burrows in muddy bottoms of shallow waters in the western Pacific from Vietnam to northern Japan.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It belongs not to Decapoda like shrimp and crabs, but to Stomatopoda (mantis shrimps); it begins reaching maturity at a body length of about 9.6 cm and grows up to 18.5 cm.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It mainly eats crustaceans, bivalves, marine worms, and fish, and occasionally eats plant matter. A female broods up to 50,000 eggs, and the planktonic larvae hatched from the eggs drift for about 3 months.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • marinespecies.org — aphia.php
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000049522 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000049522
- • wikidata.org — Q1051753
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Oratosquilla oratoria, back.jpg
- • sealifebase.se — Oratosquilla-oratoria.html
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — T. Michael Keesey (after Mivart) · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Squilla mantis)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.