The Shadow
Found in coral reefs, seagrass flats and oyster reefs, the pistol shrimp is one of the most powerful creatures pound for pound Earth. The pistol shrimp’s asymmetrical claws defy evolution in that one claw is larger than the other and equipped with a snapping action that has a chamber inside of it that produces a bubble that speeds out of its claw at 62 mph.
Heat inside the bubble has been analyzed by scientists who have determined that the heat created equals the heat of the sun’s surface and produces light as it speeds to its target, usually a small goby fish, a worm, a crab or another shrimp.
The pistol shrimp’s claw is lethal, and if the claw is torn from its body, the pistol shrimp can grow another one that fires bubbles as well.
Preying on small invertebrates, the pistol shrimp probably got its name from the Norse word, “skreppa,” which means thin person.
The emoji of a shrimp is used to advertise seafood establishments, the “e” in the word, “emoji,” meaning picture and “moji” meaning character.
Also, the term “shrimp” is a derogatory word for someone who is of small stature.
There are tiger pistol shrimp with the same attributes in the tropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific area, each equipped with the powerful sonic weapon in its right claw that stuns or kills its prey via firing bubbles.
The pistol shrimp’s crustacean claw that serves as its most powerful weapon has no pincer at its end. Instead, it fires bubbles at 100 feet per second.
The speed vaporizes water around it while the bubble generates 8,000 degrees that create the light flash, and the sound of the collapsing bubble is 60 decibels higher than a gunshot. Scientists once believed that the sound was created by the snapping claw, but later discovered that the sound was from the collapsing bubble.
Not only can the pistol shrimp send a shock wave to kill or injure another sea creature, but it can shoot bubble after bubble.
The pistol shrimp also uses its larger claw as a jackhammer to drill into basalt rock to create its burrow.
During World War II, the U.S. Navy discovered that the sonar activity created by the snapping sounds of the bubbles from colonies of pistol shrimp could interfere with sonar detection of undersea objects.
Accordingly, the U.S. Navy used the presence of colonies of pistol shrimp to prevent Japanese warships from detecting its submarines by navigating a course that placed the submarines on the other side of colonies of pistol shrimp that produced a cacophony of sound that served as protection from the warships’ sonar detection equipment.
Pistol shrimps are carnivores that are also found in shallow tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the Central Pacific Ocean.
Some are Synalpheus pinkfloydi found off the Pacific coast of Panama, and some are called candy cane shrimp because of their red and white stripes on their transparent bodies.
All are equipped with the one large claw that fires bubbles instead of bullets.
