Meh !

Mantis Shrimp - The Notorious Aquarium Breaker

Scribbled on Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

What if you are slammed by a 1,500 N force with 10,400 g acceleration at 23 miles/sec speed. Will you be able to survive the blow ? neither am i. Thats more than a sniper kill.

Now that reminds me of Mantis Shrimps, the notorious aquarium breaker with his claws at the above mentioned pace. These are named so because they neither are Mantis nor Shrimps but something that fits in between. There are two class of them depending upon the distinct array of attacking a prey.

1) Spearers - have sharp claws that can tear through flesh so precisely that these is virtually 0% survival rate of prey.

2) Smashers - “Give me a blunt end and I will crack some bones”. Yeah the blunt shell crackers fall into this class. Its like head being smashed by a damn rock.

Even if the prey survives the attack by their claw a second attack comes automatically as cavitation bubble which is produced due to the rapid movement of their claw (actually a bubble is created that strikes the prey along with the claw attack). So even if the Mantis Shrimp misses the claw attack, its highly unlikely that the prey will survive the cavitation force.

Schematic diagram of the striking mechanism of the mantis shrimp comprises three bars of fixed length (one of which, bar AC, is stationary), a contracted muscle (AE) that acts like a fixed-length bar, and a spring, linked together as shown. (Note, however, that in reality the spring lies above the muscle.) The labeled points A through E in the diagrams correspond to the points marked on the drawing of the shrimp [see illustration at top of page]. In the cocked phase (above left) the spring is compressed. When the mechanism is released, the spring pushes against bar CD, causing point D to rotate counterclockwise around point C. Because of the rigidity of the bars, that rotation forces a slight clockwise rotation of bar AE about point A. The small, simultaneous movements of points D and E, which are both locked onto bar BE, translate into a large movement of point B—the business end of the mantis shrimp’s striking mechanism—propelling it toward the shrimp’s target with devastating effect (above right).

Source: http://www.biomechanics.bio.uci.edu/_html/nh_biomech/stomatopunch/puncher.htm

Now am really scared to know that this creature can even break the aquarium glass with single claw blow.

Here are some vids on youtube about this creature

Mantis Shrimp attacking Emerald Crab:

This one gives me creeps:

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.