Larval Mantis Shrimp -- Squilla empusa

[D-B-J]

Today on our lighthouse trip I set the plankton net for another instructor (they needed a sample for tomorrow), and when I pulled it in and put it in jars, my jaw dropped. I had captured a larval mantis shrimp!!! I took some photos on the boat through the scope, but just took this with my D800, 50mm 1.8G, extension tubes, and an SB700 camera left.

Why are these so cool? They can shatter glass, break the sound barrier, and boil water.

Larval Mantis Shrimp (Squilla empusa) by f_one_eight, on Flickr



You can see the aggresively strong arms here.





Cheers!
Jake

 

[lambertpix]

Very cool shot - yeah, those things are real knuckle-busters!

 

[D-B-J]

Very cool shot - yeah, those things are real knuckle-busters!

That they are!

 

[D-B-J]

Happy Wednesday!