Here are 5 reasons why you should adopt this gangsta as your new favorite animal:
1. We have the ability to see colors from cells in the retina of our eye called cones. As humans we see all of our colors from 3 types of these color sensing cells (cones). As a result all of the colors we see derive from either red, green, or blue. The mantis shrimp as 16(!!!!) types of color sensing cells (cones). There is no other animal that has this ability! (The only one that comes close is the butterfly that has 5 types of cones). They see color in an unimaginable way, which is probably why they are so beautiful to look at!
2. The manits shrimp is one of the most creatively violent animals on earth. It has two appendages on the front of its body that they can accelerate with the same velocity as a gunshot from a twenty-two caliber rifle. In less then 3/1,000ths of a second it can strike prey with 1,500 Newtons of force.
3. Their limbs move so quickly the water around them bils, a process known as supercavitation. When these cavitation bubbles collapse it produces an undersea shockwave that can kill prey even if the mantis shrimp misses its target.
4. The force of these collapsing bubbles also produces temperatures in the range of several thousand Kelvis and emits tiny bursts of light. This effect is called sonoluminescnence.
5. Aquariums don't typically house mantis shrimps because they tend to slaughter ever other creature they share a tank with. And they can also break aquarium glass!
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