Can mantis shrimp actually see MORE colours than what we think exist or can they just pick up on different colours/colour differences more easily than us?

Question

Can mantis shrimp actually see MORE colours than what we think exist or can they just pick up on different colours/colour differences more easily than us?

In: 63

Answer 1

Neither. Mantis shrimp have more photoreceptors but actually see fewer colors than we do. This is because they don’t do “color mixing” like we do.

Our receptors detect three colors (more or less) but can then mix those colors in various proportions to form a very wide gamut of possible colors. Mantis shrimp can detect something like seventeen different colors with different photoreceptors but they don’t mix them, so those are the only colors they can detect.