Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Stomatopoda
This is a mantis shrimp. A fantastic animal which is known for its hunting abilities and extraordinary eyes.
This mantis shrimp uses its front appendages like a club, bashing its prey. They can strike at their prey with a speed of 50 mile per hour (23 meters per second). Because they move so fast, they create an area of very low pressure behind their club. The pressure is so low, the water actually vaporizes forming a cavitation bubble. This bubble can deliver an extra punch to the prey when it pops [1]. The popping bubble may deliver the same amount of force to stun the prey at the actual strike does [2].
Their eyes can pick up florescent signals, and three different types of polarized light through different regions of their eyes [3]. They have 11 pigments in their eyes, eight of which are used for visible light and three for ultra violet light [4]. Pretty amazing, especially when you consider that our eyes only have 3 pigments.
1 comment:
Mantis are amazing animals
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