Peacock Mantis Shrimp — printable fact sheet
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Peacock Mantis Shrimp
Odontodactylus scyllarus
The peacock mantis shrimp is the most famous of the smashers, and its club is a piece of biological engineering. It cocks the limb against a spring-loaded latch, storing energy in a saddle-shaped structure, then releases it so fast that the club accelerates like a bullet. The wa…
Did you know?
- A peacock mantis shrimp's punch is so fast it momentarily boils the water around it, creating a flash of light called sonoluminescence.
- Its punch accelerates like a bullet and boils the water in front of it, so a collapsing bubble strikes the prey a second time. Even a missed strike can kill. Its club survives its own violence thanks to a layered composite now being copied for body armour. It sees circularly polarised light — a channel almost no other animal can detect, and probably a private signalling system.
What I learned
Draw the peacock mantis shrimp
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