Mantis shrimp strike their prey so quickly (with speed up to 51mph and acceleration up to 10,400g) that it generates cavitation bubbles between their claw and the surface of the prey. The prey is hit twice; first by the claw at a force of 1500 newtons, and second by the collapse of the cavitation bubbles which produces a shock wave strong enough to stun or kill much larger prey than the shrimp itself. They can crack aquarium glass and split open a human thumb.
I did a little more reading and here are some other fun facts:
Some species of mantis shrimp are rainbow coloured and mind-bogglingly beautiful.
Humans have three types of colour-receptive cone cells in our eyes that allow us to see all the colours we do - mantis shrimps have SIXTEEN types of colour-receptive cone cells and are able to see both UV and polarised light.
The force of the collapsing cavitation bubbles produces temperatures of several thousand Kelvins and also emits tiny bursts of light called sonoluminescence.
mantis shrimps have SIXTEEN types of colour-receptive cone cells and are able to see both UV and polarised light.
I remember someone saying that this makes them see everything in a tye-die like pattern of colors, but I have no idea where I read that anymore or if it's true.
I saw somewhere that tigers are orange because a lot of their prey is reg green colorblind, so to a deer they’re perfectly camouflaged, but enough deer are not color blind that it isn’t an extinction level threat. Maybe this allows them to predate or avoid predation more easily? Maybe it’s now not required because those predators are no longer present, but is evolutionary inertia.
Because they can't see shades between colors, their brain doesn't have the capacity to mix colors. So they have all those cone types so that they can process visual information in the eye rather than waiting on potato brain to catch up to what the eyes see
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u/rikkitikkitavei 28d ago edited 28d ago
Mantis shrimp strike their prey so quickly (with speed up to 51mph and acceleration up to 10,400g) that it generates cavitation bubbles between their claw and the surface of the prey. The prey is hit twice; first by the claw at a force of 1500 newtons, and second by the collapse of the cavitation bubbles which produces a shock wave strong enough to stun or kill much larger prey than the shrimp itself. They can crack aquarium glass and split open a human thumb.
Edit: accuracy