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A mantis shrimp punches faster than a bullet

Meet the mantis shrimp. Only 10-15 centimeters long — like a pencil. But it has the fastest punch in the animal kingdom! Its front paw shoots at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour — faster than a bullet from an air gun.

When it hits the shell, such a huge force is created in the water that the shell splits in half. And around the impact, a tiny flash of light appears - like a small lightning bolt underwater! The temperature in that place rises for a moment to 4,500 degrees - like the surface of the Sun. Imagine: a small shrimp makes a micro-sun!

But the most amazing thing is her eyes. A person has only 3 types of color receptors: red, green, blue. A mantis shrimp has… 16! Yes, sixteen! She sees colors that we can’t even imagine. She sees ultraviolet, polarized light. If you looked at the world through her eyes, your brain simply wouldn’t understand what these new colors were.

Mantis shrimp are colorful themselves—like living rainbows: bright green, red, blue, with orange specks. They see each other in special polarized light, like secret signals.

Interestingly, a pair of mantis shrimps live together their entire lives — up to 20 years. One partner, one burrow, one family. They take turns guarding each other.

This proves you don't have to be big to be incredible. A little shrimp has the power of lightning and the vision of a superhero.