Holy Shrimp

An in Depth Look at the Peacock Mantis Shrimp

Sharks, snakes, crocodiles, bears, and lions are some of the most deadly creatures known to man. What makes them so deadly are the many different ways they can cause things harm. Sharks brutally bite through you, bears tear you to shreds, and snakes slowly take you down with poison. However, there is another creature, more unsuspectingly dangerous than all of the above. Weighing in at less than one pound and at a length of 10 centimeters, in the red corner we have the Peacock Mantis Shrimp! You do not want to get into the ring with this one. The Shrimp is best known for its knockout punch that hits you for a record four times in one go.

Image courtesy of TheOatmeal

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp, given its name based on its beautifully colored exterior, is in fact a creature you do not want to be around especially if you don't understand what it's capable of. It has the capability of striking its opponents with the speed/strength equal to shooting a .22 caliber bullet. A hit from one of these shrimp may not be in your best interest especially since they certainly have the ability to crack through glass aquariums. 

Introduction

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp can be found in many different places around the world. According to Animal Diversity, they are most commonly found in "the Indo-Pacific Ocean, south of Japan, north of Australia, and between eastern Africa and Guam (Animal Diversity)."  They prefer to stay in relatively warmer waters, ranging from temperatures of 22 to 28 degrees Celsius which is approximately 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. With water temperatures like that, you might find me swimming around these shrimp regardless of impending danger. In addition, they like to make homes in little U shaped burrows, often built near the bases of coral reefs. This makes them pretty difficult to spot out since they only grow to be 3 to 18 centimeters on average. Thankfully, they live pretty far under water - ranging from 3 to 40 meters down - so you'll be just fine as long as you don't go diving. 

Image courtesy of HowToGeek

Mantis shrimp believe it or not are actually neither mantis nor shrimp! They are actually crustaceans and they closely resemble lobsters. But were named only for having some similar characteristics to both creatures. Peacock Mantis shrimp are very brightly colored "with a base body color of olive or green and their body coloration actually differs from male to female, with males being more brightly colored (Animal Diversity)." Sadly, these beautiful little creatures only live to be 4 to 6 years old on average.

Mechanics of the Punch 

 

One of the main reasons why I even decided to research this little crustacean was because of its incredibly quick and powerful attack. The Peacock Mantis shrimp uses a hammer-like appendage to smash open snail shells for food. They can attack at "max speeds of 12-23 m/s in the water", but what is also amazing is that during an attack you can see cavitation bubbles forming (ScienceDaily). 

Image Courtesy of Fish Share

The definition of cavitation simply is the formation of space within a body. In this case the body is the ocean. This means that when the Mantis shrimp attacks, water vaporizes when the limb strikes its prey. What makes this even more fascinating is that cavitation is a destructive phenomenon. According to the Patek Lab this means that "when these vapor bubbles collapse they essentially cause a small implosion in the water which produces heat, light, and sound (The Patek Lab)." But if you were to actually watch it attack, you'd just hear a little popping sound with each hit. A huge let down to the person watching, but very devastating to the poor sea creature getting annihilated.

Image Courtesy of Ecowater

Satellite Vision

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp is also very well known for another feature that it has - its Mantis like eyes. It has one of the most complex pair of eyes that humans have ever known. The Mantis shrimp has a compound eye made of thousands of small units that each detects light independently. Those within the center stripe in the photo are especially incredible – they allow the animal to see color.

Image courtesy of National Geographic

Most people have three types of light-detecting cells or photo-receptors which are sensitive to red, green, and blue light. But the Mantis shrimp has "anywhere from 12 to 16 different photo-receptors (National Geographic)." However, they don’t see color like we do. In fact we can see color more efficiently than them and its because the Mantis Shrimp’s eyes work more like a satellite. For example, "the rock mantis shrimp has 6 photo-receptors dedicated to looking at different UV wavelengths (National Geographic)." Rather than just looking at something and enjoying its beauty, the Peacock Mantis Shrimp looks for different UV rays like a satellite does for different objects.

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp is quite the unique specimen. This little guy goes unnoticed by a lot of people which just goes to show how big our small world is. There are so many other amazing creatures out there that we may have yet to even discover in the ocean and there is a lot that we can learn from them. I hope that this short blog has taught you something new and exciting. Now go out and show the world the power of the Peacock Mantis Shrimp.

Works Cited

“Odontodactylus Scyllarus.” Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Odontodactylus_scyllarus/

“Muscle powers spearing mantis shrimp attacks.” The Journal of Experimental Biology. Science Daily, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121122095431.htm

“Mechanics of Movement: Mantis Shrimp.” Mechanics of Movement: Mantis Shrimp. The Patek Lab, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

https://pateklab.biology.duke.edu/mechanics-movement-mantis-shrimp

"Nature's Most Amazing Eyes Just Got A Bit Weirder." National Geographic. National Geographic, 03 July 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/07/03/natures-most-amazing-eyes-just-got-a-bit-weirder/