The time has finally come. Today, I am going to share my favorite sea creature with you all: The Mantis Shrimp! As I’ve mentioned before, I read every book, watched every television show, and watched every netflix documentary when it came to marine biology. I specifically remember watching a couple shows that were kind of like this blog; a new sea creature would be examined each episode. There were also a couple books and youtube videos that were structured like this and I knew that at some point the mantis shrimp would be talked about in these different medias. I always looked forward to learning more about the mantis shrimp. Let’s dive into the fascinations that made me fall in love with the mantis shrimp.
First off, let’s start with the obvious. This creature is beautiful! I mean look at all the different and vibrant colors! I understand some of you will probably react with disgust, which is understandable, but I find it extremely difficult to look away from these creatures. The mantis shrimp is quite impressive visually in more ways that one. Not only does it display beautiful and vibrant colors, but they also have some of the best eyes in the animal kingdom. For one, their eyes are located on long stalks at the top of their heads which allows them to rotate freely, almost like a chameleon’s eyes but even better. They also have trinocular vision, which means that each eye is able to independently process information on depth and distance. In addition to that, the mantis shrimp has 12-16 different color receptors in their eyes compared to a human being’s 3. This allows them to see ultraviolet, visibile, and polarized light which is very impressive! I wonder just what it would be like to see the world from the mantis shrimp’s point of view. One incredible application of a mantis shrimp’s eyes is that they can see cancer. This has to do with the way polarized light interacts with cancerous cells before a visual tumor is developed. This allowed scientists to create a camera to aid in detecting early cancers.
Those of you who have heard of the mantis shrimp before probably know it for its incredible punch – and for good reason. A mantis shrimp’s punch can travel as fast as a .22 caliber bullet. To put this in perspective, if humans had the same level of strength, we would be able to punch through steel! In fact, their punch has been troublesome to aquariums because they are able to break the glass and escape their enclosure. The punch of a mantis shrimp’s is actually so fast that is causes a cavitation bubble, which is basically a bubble but instead of air inside, there is a vacuum. The punch moves the water out of the way so quickly that there is not enough time for the water to collapse back in on itself. The cavitation bubble has a lot of complicated physics behind it, but it actually creates a very brief flash of light and temperatures up to 4,400 C (almost as hot as the surface of the sun) for a fraction of a second. Safe to say, nothing in the animal kingdom would want to get punched by these creatures.
I could keep going on and on about these wonderful animals but I’ll stop here. For these reasons (and many more) I absolutely adore the mantis shrimp. I hope you all are as amazed as I was when I first learned about these amazing creatures.
Hi, Dylan! What an interesting creature! I’ve actually never heard of the mantis shrimp before, and I’m fascinated after reading your post. It’s so intricately colored, and I’m amazed by its ability to “see” cancer. I wonder what kind of implications this might have on cancer treatment and research in the future. Also, I’m surprised by how strong such a small creature can be. If I lived in the ocean, I’d want to stay away from these guys!
This blog post was really fascinating! The thing that impressed me the most about the mantis shrimp is that it can see cancer. I mean that’s insane that they can just see tumors with their eyes. The mantis shrimp looks very beautiful but I would not be near it if I was a sea creature because of their fast punch! I also noted not to keep a mantis shrimp in an aquarium since they can break out.
Wow! I had no idea this was even a creature of the ocean, and the information you have talked about definitely shocked me. Aside from just the beautiful nature of the creature, with its multicolored shell and intricate nature of it, I found most interesting its correlation to cancer treatment. It is super interesting that scientists and researchers have even found a way to use a creature I have never heard of to treat one of the most difficult diseases that plague our culture. Super interesting and I’m super glad I learned about this creature!
Hi Dylan! I never thought about what my favorite sea creature would be, but I might have to agree with you here and call it my favorite as well. Every time I am scrolling through tik tok, and the very occasional mantis shrimp video pops up on my for-you page, I can’t help but watch it the full way through. My favorite account is the one guy who has one as a pet, and he feeds it crabs and things like that. The Mantis Shrimp is such an interesting sea creature!
Hi Dylan! Wow, I have never heard of the mantis shrimp and I never would’ve guessed they were this interesting. They are really beautiful creatures and I am still shocked they can actually see cancer! Also, how do they keep them in the tank? It’s crazy that they can cut aquarium glass with their punch, so tiny yet so powerful. The whole cativation bubble thing is also fascinating their movement is extremely fast, they kinda have superpowers in a way. I may just have a new favorite sea creature, well possibly second behind cuttlefish! Great post!