ZAP’S FACTS!
SEA LIFE

A mantis shrimp punches as fast as a speeding bullet.

Its club accelerates like a .22 bullet and briefly boils the water around it.

2 min read
A mantis shrimp punches as fast as a speeding bullet.
THE FULL STORY

The mantis shrimp is small, colorful - and astonishingly violent. It hunts by throwing a spring-loaded punch with a club on its arm, and that club accelerates about as fast as a bullet fired from a gun.

The strike is so fast it makes the water around it briefly boil into tiny bubbles. When those bubbles collapse they give off a flash of light and a second shockwave, so the prey often gets hit twice from one punch.

On top of that, mantis shrimp have some of the most incredible eyes in nature, with many more color receptors than humans and the ability to see polarized light.

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