Mantis shrimp have remarkable visual systems and complex behaviors that place them at the frontier of invertebrate cognition research with emerging welfare implications.
Mantis shrimp welfare sits at the frontier of invertebrate sentience research. Their extraordinary visual systems, rapid learning, and complex social behaviors suggest neural architectures capable of more sophisticated processing than most invertebrates. Whether this translates to subjective experience remains uncertain, but the precautionary principle applies — where complex behavior and nociception are present, welfare consideration is warranted. In aquaria, mantis shrimp require species-appropriate housing including appropriate substrate for burrow construction, appropriate tank mates given their predatory nature, and feeding that supports their complex foraging behaviors. The scientific study of mantis shrimp cognition contributes to the broader understanding of where in the animal kingdom morally relevant experience may occur.