I love these guys, they are so interesting! Mantis shrimp are stomatopods. They are marine crustaceans belonging to the order Stomatopoda, one part of the class Malacostraca, the largest class of crustaceans. They are neither shrimps nor mantids, but receive their name purely from the physical resemblance to both the terrestrial praying mantis and the shrimp. They have been known to grow as long as 38 cm, although this is exceptionally large, and the longest stomatopod one can usually expect to find is about 30 cm [1], and their carapace covers only the rear part of the head and the first three segments of the thorax. Mantis shrimp appear in a variety of colours, from rather dull browns to stunning neon.
Called "sea locusts" by ancient Assyrians, and now sometimes referred to as "thumb splitters" by modern divers — because of the relative ease the creature has in mutilating small appendages — mantis shrimp sport powerful claws, formed like jackknives, that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Some pet mantis shrimp have managed to break through their double-paned aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon. They actually have springs in there claws I really want one of these guys, but I will have to get an acrylic aquarium first!
Called "sea locusts" by ancient Assyrians, and now sometimes referred to as "thumb splitters" by modern divers — because of the relative ease the creature has in mutilating small appendages — mantis shrimp sport powerful claws, formed like jackknives, that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Some pet mantis shrimp have managed to break through their double-paned aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon. They actually have springs in there claws I really want one of these guys, but I will have to get an acrylic aquarium first!
