Prettyfull, aren't they? But don't touch! They're very dangerous!

 

Mantis srimp are not shrimp or mantises, they just physically resemble both of them. Some can grow to 20-30 cm, but most species are much smaller. They live mostly solitary lives in little burrows in the sand, and only come out to mate or look for food. Mantis shrimp are known mostly for their unique method of attacking things. There are 2 kinds of Mantis shrimp, spearers and clubers. Both have arms much like that of a Praying Mantis, except it is sharp and spear like on the end and club like at the elbow. Spearers hav better spears than clubs, and clubers have better clubs than spears. Both types are able to fling their arms out and hit things very fast, going fomr 0 to 10 m/s in almost no time at all, one ofthe fastest movements in the animal kingdom. This movement is very hard for the human eye to follow. Such speed means that some species can hit an object with force equal to that of a 22 caliber bullet. Spearers impale things on their spear like ends, and clubers knock the crap out of things with their club like elbows. Needless to say, they can do major damage to any fish, crab, or human figer that gets too close. Divers have nicknamed Mantis shrimp "thumb splitters", as it is very easy for one to split your thumb, or any other finger, wide open.

Something else to note is that Mantis shrimp posses the most developed eyes in the animal kingdom. They have trinocular vision in each eye, have 8 visual pigments sensative to light(humans only have 3) and 3 visual pigments sensative to ultraviolet light. They also have 4 filters that tune these visual pigments, and can see 2-3 planes of polerized light. Finally, they can also get depth perception with only one eye.

 

odd fact: In Cantonese cuisine, the mantis shrimp is a popular dish known as "pissing shrimp" due to its tendency to urinate when cooked.

 

another fact: this is my favorite animal.

 

I was whatching a show once, and they had a cluber mantis shrimp attack a crab. The crab was just going along, when it walked pass the mantis shrimps hoe. The Mantis shrimp ran, knocked it in the head/body, which stunned the crab. It then proceeded to knock off the crabs legs and claws one by one, until only it's body remained. It then dragged its body into its burrow, cracked open its body, and started eating.

 

Source

sweet, i want one for my fishtank