Did you know that the mantis shrimp’s punch is so powerful that he can kill and even break his prey apart?
1. Amazing eyesight
The mantis shrimp has extraordinary eyes. His world is extremely colourful, as he sees more colours than humans can. His eyes can move independently, and he can estimate distances by using just one eye – humans need both eyes to perceive depth. And as if this isn’t amazing enough, the mantis shrimp has compound eyes, meaning that he can see cancerous cells even before symptoms appear.
2. Colours of the rainbow
The mantis shrimp comes in an array of colours. Some are only a solid colour, like yellow or green, but the peacock mantis shrimp is a combination of blue, red, green and yellow. Some even have a shade of orange. This gives the dull ocean floor a dash of colour.
3. Powerful punch
The mantis shrimp is definitely famous for his powerful punch. He can swing his club-like appendages at an acceleration similar to that of a .22-calibre bullet. The speed of the appendage hitting an object causes friction and therefore creates heat, causing the water around the mantis shrimp to boil at a temperature as hot as the surface of the sun (about 6,200°C). And the force of the punch is the same as the bite force of a lion.
4. Super speed
Not only does he punch fast, but he also runs fast. His length may only vary between 1cm and 30cm, but the mantis shrimp can move 30 times his body length in one second. If the mantis shrimp is 10cm long, that means he can travel about 1km/h. If humans could move 30 times our body length, we would be able to run at 180km/h.
5. Predator vs prey
Being so small, you can easily see why the mantis shrimp has so many predators. However, he still isn’t ‘easy prey’. He will fight to protect himself and his home, packing powerful punches to fight off fish and octopuses.
6. Relative status
The mantis shrimp is a member of the crustacean family, which normally live underwater. Although he is called a mantis shrimp, he doesn’t belong to either the mantis or shrimp families. His name comes from the fact that he resembles both the praying mantis and the shrimp. But he is in fact part of his own species, with more than 450 subspecies.
7. Prime real-estate
Mantis shrimp live in shallow tropical or subtropical waters. He lives in small burrows on the ocean floor that can be up to about 50cm deep, 10cm wide and up to 2m long.
