Caught in the Act: Mantis has Coleman for lunch!
Sometimes it really pays to spend a long time diving with Maluku Divers in Ambon. When you put in the hours underwater, armed with your camera and a healthy helping of patience, really interesting behaviours can be exhibited and witnessed. This week at Maluku Divers, Axel Käfer and Bettina Hänfler were lucky enough to enjoy something really special.
Axel and Bettina came to Ambon from the second largest city of Germany, Hamburg. At our first meeting, they looked to us like relaxed divers, a happy couple-next-door taking a two week long vacation at our resort, with Axel frequently cheerfully referring to Bettina as “the boss!”. But as the days passed and we got to know them better. We found out that Bettina is a pharmacist whose advice to other divers about treating common ear infections using easily-available homemade chemical solutions was as good as any dive doctor’s, and Axel turned out to be a real-life Crime Scene Investigator!
Underwater, Axel and Bettina displayed an unusual curiosity and precision observing Ambon’s unique marine life. In spite of having travelled to various parts of the coral triangle for muck diving, and having seen umpteen species of critters, they investigated every rock, every bit of rubble and every reef as meticulously as our professional dive guides, in search of more.
It was due to this dedication to detail during one of their dives, that they were rewarded by something which they had never seen nor expected before and we think very few people will ever have witnessed: While Axel was shooting a pair of coleman shrimps (periclimenes colemani) on a fire urchin, a smashing mantis shrimp (possibly odontodactylus latirostris) darted into the frame, struck one of the coleman shrimps at lightning speed and had it for lunch! Being in the right place at the right time, Axel and Bettina have one great picture of the criminal caught in the act!
Bye Bye, Colemani!
Obviously this incredible observation, and subsequent action shot, lead to discussions as to whether this had been witnessed before, whether the mantis was especially brave, or whether there was something wrong with the fire urchin, meaning it couldn’t offer the expected level of protection that Mr Colemani was expecting. Let us know what you think in comments below.
This kind of observation really excites us at Maluku Divers, congratulations to Axel and Bettina, thanks for sharing. We hope this little episode brings a smile to all your faces. Join us at Maluku Divers and perhaps you’ll witness something really unique too.
