Divers are often asked, and ask each other, ‘what’s the coolest thing you have seen underwater?‘ Answers often include the usual suspects – the larger, more dramatic ocean inhabitants such as whale sharks, manta rays, our beloved thresher sharks and the like. For me though, a chance encounter early in my diving days led to a borderline obsession with my favourite reef dweller, and the more I learned about this crazy little critter the more awed I was by this ultimate example of evolution!
Allow me to introduce to you Odontodactylus scyllarus of the stomatopod family – the mighty Peacock Mantis Shrimp!!! A frequent sight on the reefs of Malapascua, this rainbow coloured bundle of destruction has a well earned reputation as one of natures finest creations.
Why? Well . . . . . the mantis shrimp possesses the fastest strike in the animal kingdom, its raptorial appendages (punchy bits) reaching speeds similar to a .22 calibre bullet, and generating enough force to cause cavitation bubbles, which upon collapse cause a shockwave strong enough to stun or kill prey, even if the shrimp misses its target! To put that in perspective, if you could move your arms at 1/10th of that speed you could throw a baseball into orbit!! That’s certainly bad news for the less nimble snails and crabs that the mantis shrimp calls lunch.
And if that wasn’t enough, the eyes of the mantis shrimp are also an evolutionary marvel, seeing a huge range of light, including UV and polarised light, and able to move independently of each other – this elaborate visual system recognised also as the most complex in the animal kingdom. If you’d like to know more about these wonderful creatures there is plenty of information available online, or better yet, come and join us at Evolution for the chance to meet one yourself!
For more info on amazing marine encounters contact us on info@evolution.com.ph
