mantis shrimp
jeure | June 7, 2012Mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are the planet’s most powerful bare-knuckle boxers, armed with dactyl clubs that literally fly faster than a speeding .22 caliber bullet. Each strike boils the surrounding water and creates a tiny cavitation bubble, which then implodes with a sonic pop that can render targets unconscious. Consider that: if the strike itself doesn’t get you, its aftershock will. And that’s just the variety of stomatopod equipped with blunt fists - others launch their lance-like arms to pierce prey.
These little lobster cousins, usually between 4 and 12 inches long, are capable…
edyong | October 25, 2009The most incredible eyes in the animal world can be found under the sea, on the head of the mantis shrimps. Each eye can move independently and can focus on object with three different areas, giving the mantis shrimp "trinocular vision". While we see in three colours, they see in twelve, and they can tune individual light-sensitive cells depending on local light levels. They can even see a special type of light - 'circularly polarised light' - that no other animal can.
But Nicholas Roberts from the University of Bristol has found a new twist to the mantis shrimp's eye. It contains a…
bleimanb | April 22, 2008It is common knowledge that Andrew and I have a thing for mantis shrimps. Simply put, they are sweet. Andrew even has a poster of a mantis shrimp on the ceiling in his bedroom.
New research in a recent issue of Current Biology indicates that these amazing creatures are even MORE incredible than we thought. Not only do they have ridiculous coloration, the same super creepy appearance and the fastest/most powerful strike of any animal in the kingdom, but now it would seem, they have the most complex eyes as well.
I see London, I see France...
As explained by our good buddies at Science Friday…