This Shrimp Punches So Fast It Boils The Water Around Its Own Fist

The strike is one of the fastest movements in the entire animal kingdom.

There is a small, colorful sea creature that throws a punch so violent it creates a flash of light and a burst of heat underwater. The mantis shrimp is not big, but pound for pound it hits like a legend.

Its club-like limbs snap forward at astonishing speed, fast enough to smash through crab shells and even crack aquarium glass. The strike is one of the quickest movements measured in any animal.

The punch moves so fast it briefly vaporizes the water into tiny bubbles. When those bubbles collapse, they release a snap of energy, heat, and light, meaning the shrimp effectively lands a second hit for free.

As if that were not enough, mantis shrimp have some of the most complex eyes known, packed with far more color receptors than ours. A tiny brawler with dazzling vision and a knockout punch, hiding in a reef near you.