Mantis Shrimp Has the World’s Fastest Punch

Mantis shrimps are aggressive relatives of crabs and lobsters and prey upon other animals by crippling them with devastating jabs. Their secret weapons are a pair of hinged arms folded away under their head, which they can unfurl at incredible speeds.

The ‘spearer’ species have arms ending in a fiendish barbed spike that they use to impale soft-bodied prey like fish. But the larger ‘smasher’ species have arms ending in heavy clubs, and use them to deliver blows with the same force as a rifle bullet.

Water is much denser than air and even the quickest martial artist would have considerable difficulty punching in it. And yet the mantis shrimp’s finishes its strike in under three thousandths of a second.

Continued...
Source

By Roy L. Caldwell, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley

A photograph of A female Odontodactylus Scyllarus mantis shrimp. Mantis shrimp or stomatopods are an ancient group of marine predators that are only distantly related to other more familiar crustaceans, such as crabs, shrimp and lobsters.

While most occur in shallow tropical marine waters, a few species are found in more temperate seas. Although they are called mantis shrimp, they are neither shrimp nor mantid (a species of insect), but received their name due to their resemblance to both praying mantis and shrimp. Mantis shrimp appear in a variety of colors, from shades of browns to bright neon colors.

Source / Image Courtesy

Squilla mantis, showing the spearing appendages.

Source / Image Courtesy

By Jenny

Mantis shrimp from the front.

Source / Image Courtesy

The front of Lysiosquillina maculata, showing the stalked eyes.

Source / Image Courtesy

By Alexander Vasenin

Closeup of a mantis shrimp showing the structure of the eyes

Source / Image Courtesy

By Shumpei Maruyama

Close-up of the trinocular vision of Pseudosquilla ciliata

Source / Image Courtesy

Peacock mantis shrimp

Source / Image Courtesy

The mantis shrimp is a skillful predator that has a secret weapon.

World's Fastest Punch | Slow Motion Mantis Shrimp

The peacock mantis shrimp has the world's fastest feeding strike of any animal