The giant shrimp living on Australia's Great Barrier Reef can see a world beyond the rainbow that is invisible to other animals, scientists said recently. A Mantis shrimp (Gonodactylus smithii) is seen in this undated handout photograph released in London May 14, 2008. Called "sea grasshoppers" by ancient Assyrians, "prawn killers" in Australia and now sometimes referred to as "thumb split-ters" by modern divers because of their vicious claws, mantis shrimp can break through aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon of claws.
科學家最近指出，生活在澳洲大堡礁的巨型瀨尿蝦可以看到彩虹以外的世界，其他動物是看不見的。圖為倫敦於5月14日所發布一張拍攝日期不詳的瀨尿蝦檔案照。瀨尿蝦因為鉗和螯十分凶猛，古代亞述人稱之為「海中的蚱蜢」；澳洲稱之為「蝦子殺手」，現代潛水人員則戲稱為「拇指剪刀手」。瀨尿蝦只要用鉗和螯當武器，敲擊一次，就可以打破魚缸。
Mantis shrimps have the most complex eyes in the ani-mal kingdom, capable of seeing colours from the ultravi-olet to the infrared, as well as detecting other subtle vari-ations in light. The eyes of mantis shrimp may make them able to recognise different types of coral, prey species (which are often transparent or semi-transparent). Mantis shrimp appear in a variety of colours, from shades of browns to bright neon colours.
瀨尿蝦在動物王國中，具有最複雜的眼睛，各種顏色，從紫外線到紅外線都可以看見，此外更可以偵測到光線的微妙變化。瀨尿蝦的眼睛使牠們得以看出不同種類的珊瑚和獵物（牠們往往是透明或半透明的）。瀨尿蝦本身五顏六色，從棕色到鮮艷的霓虹燈的顏色都有。
They are neither shrimp nor mantis, but receive their name purely from the physical resemblance to both the mantis and the shrimp. They may reach 30 cm in length, although exceptional cases of up to 38 cm have been recorded. Around 400 species of mantis shrimp have cur-rently been described worldwide. Most species live in tropical and subtropical seas (Indian and Pacific Oceans between east-ern Africa and Hawaii), al-though some live in tem-perate seas.
牠們既不是蝦子也不是螳螂，之所以取名「螳螂蝦子」，只因為牠們外形既像蝦，又像螳螂。牠們身長可達30公分，但最長的紀錄是38公分。全球目前有大約400種瀨尿蝦，大半生存於熱帶及亞熱帶海洋（在東非到夏威夷之間的印度洋和太平洋洋底），但也有些生存於溫帶海洋。
In Japanese cuisine, the mantis shrimp is eaten boiled as sashimi and as a sushi topping, and is called shako. In Cantonese cuisine, the mantis shrimp is a popular dish known as "pissing shrimp" due to its tendency to urinate when cooked. Because of this, mantis shrimp are speared to induce them to evacuate their bowels prior to being introduced into the cookpot. After cooking, their flesh is closer to that of lobsters than that of shrimp, and like lob-sters, their shells are quite hard and require some pressure to crack. The usual concerns associated with consuming seafood are an issue with mantis shrimp, as they may dwell in contaminated waters.
在日本菜中，瀨尿蝦通常過熱水後當生魚片吃，也可以用來包壽司，日本人稱之為蝦蛄。在廣東菜中，瀨尿蝦是道名菜，之所以稱為瀨尿蝦，是因為在烹煮過程中這種蝦會撒尿。也因此，入鍋前要先刺戳，除掉內臟。煮熟後，瀨尿蝦味美如龍蝦，較不像蝦子。同時，一如龍蝦，殼又硬又厚，要用力才能破開。吃瀨尿蝦這類海鮮時，比較要擔心的問題是牠們可以生活在污染的水中。