Original photo by bugking88/ iStock
Superman might be the only thing faster than a speeding bullet, but he has some competition from mantis shrimp. Also known as “prawn killers” in Australia, these pint-sized pugilists punch with about the same force as a .22-caliber bullet. At 50 miles an hour, their punches are the fastest in the animal kingdom — and 50 times faster than the blink of an eye. When they decide to clobber their prey, mantis shrimp create 1,500 newtons of force with their claws; even more amazingly, their punches superheat the water around them to a temperature nearly as hot as the surface of the sun. Their clublike claws are coated in impact-resistant nanoparticles that allow the shrimp to punch to their heart’s content.
Oops, incorrect!
It's a factDespite its name, the mantis shrimp is neither a mantis nor a true shrimp. Members of the order Stomatopoda, they’re more closely related to crabs and lobsters.
Mantis shrimp use their incredible punching skills to both feed on and fight creatures larger than themselves: crabs, mollusks, gastropods, and other ocean dwellers unlucky enough to get in their way. Videos of the phenomenon are as popular as you might imagine, not least because peacock mantis shrimp, perhaps the most famous type, are so visually striking. Not all mantis shrimp punch, however. There are two main types of hunters — smashers and spearers — and only the former engage in high-speed clubbing. Spearers, meanwhile, impale their prey on spiky forelimbs — a slower but presumably no less painful end.
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The mantis shrimp lives in the ______ oceans.
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The mantis shrimp lives in the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Mantis shrimp are older than dinosaurs
Fossil records indicate that stomatopods branched off from other crustaceans some 400 million years ago, making them older than dinosaurs. And not just a little older, either — dinosaurs first appeared between 200 million and 250 million years ago, making them species-come-lately compared to their fast-punching friends. Other extremely long-lived species include horseshoe crabs (300 million years), alligators (245 million years), and — sigh — cockroaches (at least 125 million years). Humans, meanwhile, have probably only been on the planet for somewhere between 1.4 million and 2.4 million years.
Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.
