Meet the Shrimp with a 50MPH Punch! | About the Peacock Mantis Shrimp

What ocean animal can punch so fast it boils the water around it?

Not an octopus. It’s not a scuba diving gorilla…

It’s a shrimp. 🦐

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp — the rainbow Rambo of the reef that packs a punch faster than a speeding bullet and has ultraviolet vision.

This isn’t just an underwater punching machine — this might just become your new favorite animal. In this post, we’ll dive into all about how it hunts, how it sees, and how it thrives in the reef.

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Let’s first talk about that punch.

Peacock Mantis Shrimps use two raptorial appendages — kind of like little spring-loaded clubs — to strike prey and enemies at speeds of 50 miles per hour. That’s roughly the same speed as a .22 caliber bullet.

The acceleration is over 10,000 g’s. To put this into perspective, the most G-force highly trained pilots can briefly experience safely is a little over 10 G’s. That means the Mantis Shrimp’s punch accelerates 1,000 times faster than some of our most advanced fighter jets.

The punch also delivers a force of over 1,500 newtons, which is 2.5 thousand times the force of the shrimp’s own body weight. If we could mimic that same force, we’d be able to punch straight through steel.

But it’s not just the punch itself, here’s the sci-fi part: they strike so fast that surrounding water super heats to 8,000 degrees F (similar to the surface of the sun), vaporizes, and creates what’s called a cavitation bubble. This bubble quickly collapses and implodes, rapidly releasing heat, light, and sound. The collapse of the bubble releases tremendous energy and creates a shock wave that can stun or kill prey.

One other animal out there is capable of producing cavitation bubbles like the Mantis Shrimp, and it’s the Pistol Shrimp (another shrimp 😊). These guys produce cavitation bubbles in a slightly different way – instead of punching through the water, they rapidly snap their claw shut, producing an incredibly fast jet of water. Which in turn, makes a cavitation bubble! I'll do another post about them later...

Cavitation bubbles have a real impact on us humans. Speed boat and submarine propellers spin quickly enough to also generate cavitation bubbles, and these not only can damage propellers over time, but they generate sound (especially when a submarine is trying to stay quiet!) Learning about and understanding the force and damage caused cavitation bubbles has helped engineers design more durable ship propellers, water pumps, and submarine parts.

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So what makes the mantis shrimp’s little clubs so strong? They can shatter their prey’s shells, they can make cavitation bubbles, but what keeps their clubs from breaking apart?

Well, the Mantis Shrimp’s dactyl clubs consist of two main layers. A “periodic region” inside of the club made of energy-absorbent structure that filters out damaging waves; and an “impact region” found on the outside of the club, like a shield.

Some of the latest research, funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, describes a unique herringbone structure within the dactyl club’s outer impact region. When replicated and tested with a 3D printer, scientists found that this herringbone structure uniformly distributes damaging stress from impacts – preventing catastrophic failures.

This unique pattern not only helps prevent cracks in in the Mantis Shrimp clubs, but also in the 3D printed armor the scientists tested.

So we can thank the Mantis Shrimp for scientific improvements in the next generations of airplanes, body armor, and even everyday items like football helmets.

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Now we’ll move into some Mantis Shrimp stats:

Despite the name, Peacock Mantis Shrimps aren’t actually shrimp — or mantises. They’re stomatopods: a group of marine crustaceans that’s been around for millions of years. To date, there’s about 500 known species of stomatopods, so the Peacock Mantis Shrimp has quite a few cousins.

The peacock variety gets its name from its bright colors — blues, greens, oranges, and electric reds. They’re about the size of a banana and they’re found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, which is this area here South of Japan, north of Australia, and between Africa and Guam.

These guys live in shallow waters at depths of 30-100 feet, often hiding in burrows in coral reefs or rocky sea beds. They are highly intelligent, highly territorial, and highly aggressive, so they generally spend their time by themselves – but more on that later.”

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Let’s talk about their eyes.

Peacock Mantis Shrimps have some of the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom.

– They are the only animals known to see in circularly polarized light.
– They detect 12–16 color channels (humans only see 3).
– They process depth and motion differently in each eye.

What is circularly polarized light and why is it important to the Peacock Mantis Shrimp?

Most light around us (like sunlight or light from a lamp) is unpolarized, meaning it wiggles in one direction – like a rope shaken up and down. But circularly polarized light instead spins in a circle as it moves forward- like a curly ribbon. It can be made in a few different ways:

 

      Scientists can create circularly polarized light by using polarizing filters and crystals that essentially put light through a “spin machine”

·         Also, when you use 3D movie glasses, the different lenses allow each eye to see in different circular directions

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp has tiny mirror-like structures on its shell– particularly on its tail and dactyl clubs. When light bounces off these structures, it spins in a circle as circularly polarized light! Since circularly polarized light is rarely found in the reef, scientists believe Peacock Mantis Shrimp use this light as a form of communication with each other.

There was a study completed back in 2015 that showed Peacock Mantis Shrimp actively avoided burrows that reflected circularly polarized light – which leads us to believe these shrimps use this light to avoid possibly deadly fights with each other.

A little more about these amazing eyes:

Humans have 3 types of color sensors in our eyes, called cone cells, that allow us to see red, green, and blue. Peacock Mantis Shrimp have 12 to 16, which allows them to perceive in infrared all the way through ultraviolet. It’s hard for us to imagine as to what their vision might even look like!

But it doesn’t stop there. Each eye can move independent from the other, and both have stereoscopic vision. This means that where humans require both eyes to judge distance, Mantis shrimp can do it with just one!

Scientists are continually studying Peacock Mantis Shrimp vision for breakthroughs in cancer detection, optical sensors, advanced military tech, and helping people with color blindness.”

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How do Peacock Mantis Shrimp hunt?

Because of their punch, Peacock Mantis Shrimps fall in a category of what’s known as ‘smashers.’ This means they crack open hard-shelled prey like snails, crabs, clams, and even other shrimp.

That punch we talked about earlier is like a can opener — they use repeated, targeted strikes to split their prey wide open.

As a side note - There are other mantis shrimp types that are referred to as ‘spearers,’ because they use spiny claws to stab softer prey like fish.

Peacock Mantis Shrimp are capable of taking down prey many times their size, and will patiently wait in front of their burrow until it’s time to strike. If it’s a small enough meal, they’re take it to-go back down into the safety of their burrow.

Speaking of their burrows, let’s talk about how these Mantis Shrimp build homes and have cute little families.

Mantis shrimp dig and defend elaborate U-shaped burrows. Males are highly aggressive towards other males, but ladies are another story! Male Peacock Mantis Shrimp put on elaborate courtship displays to attract females. And once they’ve found a mate, they sometimes stay committed together for years!

They raise their young cooperatively, defend their shared home, and even take turns guarding the entrance. The female will clean and hold the eggs until they are ready to hatch. But, the parenting stops there. Once the babies hatch, they’re left to float off and fend for themselves.

Peacock Mantis Shrimp generally live about 3-6 years but some individuals have been known to live to twenty!

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“Despite their incredible strength, mantis shrimps aren’t invincible.

They face threats from pollution, habitat destruction, and overfishing in coral reef areas.

They play a key role in reef ecosystems — keeping populations in check and creating burrows that benefit other species. Plus – we still have so much more to learn about them!

We can help protect Peacock Mantis Shrimps by doing little things everyday- by making sure your trash is thrown away in a proper receptacle. If you see litter, pick it up. When you’re at the beach, wear “reef-safe” sunscreen.

These are all small things that every one of us can do to help make sure the Peacock Mantis Shrimp continues to thrive for generations to come.

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So let’s recap:

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp:

– Punches at the speed of a bullet.
– Has alien-like vision.
– and is an intelligent, curious, colorful little creature that should easily take the place as your new favorite animal

If you want an easy and colorful way to share the Peacock Mantis Shrimp with your kids, please check out my children’s book “Reef Pals: Wonders of the Reef” which features “Tyson” the Peacock Mantis Shrimp who helps narrate a vibrant and educational tour of the coral reef. It’s not just a story, it’s a bedtime biology lesson.

Reef Pals Book: https://reefpals.com/products/reef-pals-wonders-of-the-reef-1st-ed

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@discoverpals