This fabulous animated infographic from the good people at Smarter Every Day illustrates the mechanism by which mantis shrimp claws produce incredible power. Mantis shrimp are legendary in and out of the ring for their ability to fling their claws forward with mind-blowing speed.
To see the animated graphic, click here or the source.
In the case of the shrimp species that have traded a more traditional spearing or grabbing claw for a mallet, they can hit their prey with the force of a .22 caliber bullet. Most of the time they don’t need to actually hit their prey to do damage. The force of the punch on the water can stun any small creatures within the blast radius, as it could be called.
The mantis shrimp with spear claws give no quarter and no chance to any prey unlucky enough to be within range. The muscular spring mechanism that they use to wind up their terrific punches is common to both types of mantis shrimp, though they use it to different effect.
Looking for some more crazy facts about sea life? Check out this infographic about octopi. Or is it octopuses?