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IMAGE: Side view of a 11-day-old mantis shrimp (Gonodactylaceus falcatus) larva. The raptorial appendage is folded in bellow the large eyes. view more
Credit: Jacob Harrison, Duke University.
Adult mantis shrimp pack an explosive punch that can split water, but no crustacean emerges fully formed. Minute larvae can undergo six or seven transformations before emerging as fully developed adults and limbs and manoeuvres develop over time. So, when do mantis shrimp larvae acquire the ability to pulverise their dinner and how powerful are the punches that these mini crustaceans pack? We knew that larval mantis shrimp have these beautiful appendages; Megan Porter and Eve Robinson at the University of Hawaii had captured normal videos of a couple of strikes a few years ago , says Jacob Harrison from Duke University, USA. So, he packed up Sheila Patek s high-speed camera and high-resolution lens and travelled to Hawai i to investigate the developing crustacean s manoeu
A group of crustaceans called amphipods can accelerate as fast as a bullet literally, according to a new study by biologists at the University of Alberta and Duke University.
The movement is so rapid it creates an audible pop above the water and produces bubbles.
Males of the species Dulichiella cf. appendiculata are only tiny, roughly the size of a sunflower seed, but 30 per cent of their body weight comes from its one huge claw.
The engorged claw shuts in just 93 microseconds, moving at around 38 mph. Human eyes take about 150 milliseconds to complete the process of blinking.
Males of the species Dulichiella cf. appendiculata are only tiny, less than a centimeter long, but 30 per cent of their body weight comes from one huge claw. (pictured bottom right of image, the large claw)
Tiny Crustacean Redefines Ultra-Fast Movement
The world’s most technologically advanced robots would lose in a competition with a tiny crustacean.
Just the size of a sunflower seed, the amphipod Dulichiella cf. appendiculata has been found by Duke researchers to snap its giant claw shut 10,000 times faster than the blink of a human eye.
The claw, which only occurs on one side in males, is impressive, reaching 30% of an adult’s body mass. Its ultrafast closing makes an audible snap, creating water jets and sometimes producing small bubbles due to rapid changes in water pressure, a phenomenon known as cavitation.
A group of crustaceans called amphipods can accelerate as fast as a bullet literally, according to a new study by biologists at the University of Alberta.