The Mantis Shrimp Delivers a Powerful Punch and Has Complicated Eyes
by Owen Borville
July 11, 2020
Biology
Design is apparent in the mantis shrimp, a marine crustacean of the Stomatopoda order, living in warm, shallow water and exhibiting bright colors on its body. The mantis shrimp is actually not a mantis or a shrimp, but a stomatopod. Its powerful punch strike and its complicated eyes make it a unique design by an Intelligent Designer.
Its Claw Strike
The mantis shrimp can deliver a powerful strike with its clubs or claws. The average length of the mantis shrimp is only four inches long but can be up to 18 inches long. Mantis shrimps have powerful claws that are used to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning, or dismembering. Mantis shrimps spend much of their time hiding in burrows and holes, and therefore are poorly understood. Some mantises have smashers and some have spears that are used to kill prey by hitting or stabbing.
The mantis punch accelerates with the same velocity as a gunshot from a 22-caliber rifle (that's 45 miles per hour and 200 pounds of force). In a fraction of a second, the mantis delivers a punch with 1,500 Newtons of force. Their limbs move so quickly, the water around them boils. The strike produces a water shockwave that can kill prey even if the mantis misses its target. The mantis kills its prey by dismemberment, by continuously hitting its prey until it falls apart. Its prey include crabs, mollusks, oysters, snails, and octopi. Mantises can break aquarium glass, along with killing fellow aquarium mates, and break chunks of rock. Mantises commonly break holes in rock for living space. Spearer mantises can cut a human finger in a split second while smashers can crack through any shelled marine organism. Mantises can be a nuisance for aquarium owners.
The outer part of the mantis' club is made of a crystalline mineral material and the center portion is made of spiraling layers of sugar-based chitin fibers. Another layer of chitin fibers wraps around the entire club. The clubs are being studied by researchers wanting to design body armour. Mantises can also swim and move on the ground very quickly, making them hard to catch and they have a tendency to fight.
Complicated Eyes
The shrimp mantis possesses the most complicated eyes of any animal, including the capability of distinguishing between 100,000 colors (10 times as many as humans) and seeing circular polarized light, or CPL, which can't be detected by any other creature. Mantises have 16 color receptors compared to only 3 for humans: red, green, and blue. They can see ultraviolet light as well as visible light and have the most complex UV detecting system found in nature, according to researchers. Scientists believe that mantises use their complex vision to communicate with each other. Mantis shrimp have compound eyes containing a cluster of photoreceptor cells. Mantis shrimps can move each eye independently and can see in 3D.
Origin as a Living Fossil
The mantis shrimp is classified as a living fossil by evolutionist scientists, not having changed in morphology in over 300 million years of their time scale. However, creationists assert that this non-changing morphology is the product of a young creation event 6,000 years ago by a powerful Intelligent Designer.
by Owen Borville
July 11, 2020
Biology
Design is apparent in the mantis shrimp, a marine crustacean of the Stomatopoda order, living in warm, shallow water and exhibiting bright colors on its body. The mantis shrimp is actually not a mantis or a shrimp, but a stomatopod. Its powerful punch strike and its complicated eyes make it a unique design by an Intelligent Designer.
Its Claw Strike
The mantis shrimp can deliver a powerful strike with its clubs or claws. The average length of the mantis shrimp is only four inches long but can be up to 18 inches long. Mantis shrimps have powerful claws that are used to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning, or dismembering. Mantis shrimps spend much of their time hiding in burrows and holes, and therefore are poorly understood. Some mantises have smashers and some have spears that are used to kill prey by hitting or stabbing.
The mantis punch accelerates with the same velocity as a gunshot from a 22-caliber rifle (that's 45 miles per hour and 200 pounds of force). In a fraction of a second, the mantis delivers a punch with 1,500 Newtons of force. Their limbs move so quickly, the water around them boils. The strike produces a water shockwave that can kill prey even if the mantis misses its target. The mantis kills its prey by dismemberment, by continuously hitting its prey until it falls apart. Its prey include crabs, mollusks, oysters, snails, and octopi. Mantises can break aquarium glass, along with killing fellow aquarium mates, and break chunks of rock. Mantises commonly break holes in rock for living space. Spearer mantises can cut a human finger in a split second while smashers can crack through any shelled marine organism. Mantises can be a nuisance for aquarium owners.
The outer part of the mantis' club is made of a crystalline mineral material and the center portion is made of spiraling layers of sugar-based chitin fibers. Another layer of chitin fibers wraps around the entire club. The clubs are being studied by researchers wanting to design body armour. Mantises can also swim and move on the ground very quickly, making them hard to catch and they have a tendency to fight.
Complicated Eyes
The shrimp mantis possesses the most complicated eyes of any animal, including the capability of distinguishing between 100,000 colors (10 times as many as humans) and seeing circular polarized light, or CPL, which can't be detected by any other creature. Mantises have 16 color receptors compared to only 3 for humans: red, green, and blue. They can see ultraviolet light as well as visible light and have the most complex UV detecting system found in nature, according to researchers. Scientists believe that mantises use their complex vision to communicate with each other. Mantis shrimp have compound eyes containing a cluster of photoreceptor cells. Mantis shrimps can move each eye independently and can see in 3D.
Origin as a Living Fossil
The mantis shrimp is classified as a living fossil by evolutionist scientists, not having changed in morphology in over 300 million years of their time scale. However, creationists assert that this non-changing morphology is the product of a young creation event 6,000 years ago by a powerful Intelligent Designer.
