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Pistol Shrimp — printable fact sheet
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Pistol Shrimp
Alpheus bellulus
Alpheid snapping shrimp do not stun prey with the snap of the claw — they stun it with the bubble the snap creates. The oversized claw is cocked open, held by a physical latch and loaded by muscle like a crossbow, then released; the dactyl slams shut so fast that it fires a jet …
Did you know?
- The snap of a pistol shrimp’s claw is so loud it can disrupt sonar and is one of the loudest biological sounds in the ocean.
- Many snapping shrimp share a burrow with a goby: the near-blind shrimp digs and maintains the tunnel while the goby stands sentry, and the shrimp keeps an antenna touching the fish, retreating the instant it flicks its tail. If a shrimp loses its snapping claw, the remaining small claw grows into a new snapper and the lost side regenerates as a small claw — the shrimp swaps handedness. The snap is used against rivals of its own species as well as prey, and shrimp fights are essentially shockwave duels.
What I learned
Draw the pistol shrimp
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