Pistol Shrimp – Deep Sea Sharpshooter
For those of you who’ve been living under a rock (well, definitely not an oceanic rock) the ocean floor is home to many bizarre and unique creatures. One family of shrimp in particular, the Alpheidae, ranks pretty high on the strange meter. The reason? They are armed to the teeth (assuming they had teeth anyways)!
As shown in the photo above, pistol shrimps are known for having one disproportionately large claw that has evolved into a very specialized function – to be used as a sonic cannon against its prey. The shooting of a pistol shrimp can be described as a snapping noise. This noise was once believed to be the sound of the claw surfaces striking each other, but with the use of high resolution photography the secret has been brought to light. When the shrimp slams shut its claw a high-velocity jet of bubbles is emitted from the claw at incredible speeds. These bubbles are under such extreme pressure that when they burst it causes an effect known as cativation occurs, creating temperatures of at least 10,000 K! For those of you a bit dusty on your astronomy, that is hotter than the surface of the sun!
The video below further describes why the pistol shrimp has earned its name.
Surprisingly enough, the strange tale of the Pistol Shrimp doesn’t end there. They have also taken to the act of mutualistic symbiosis or, in other words, the partnering with a different species. While the shrimp, with its oversized claw, makes a great burrow digger it suffers from the same limitations as all other shrimp – very poor eyesight. This disability makes burrow digging very dangerous work as the shrimp must run outside of its hole to dispose of each load of gravel and sand. Much to their advantage one of their aquatic neighbours, the Goby had greatly superior eyesight but faced a problem of their own – a limited ability to dig its own burrow. As such, an agreement was reached long ago in their mutual evolutionary history whereby the pistol shrimp makes sure his tunnel is large enough for his gobi companion while the fish acts as a sentry during its construction. You don’t have to take my word for it, especially when you can hear it in the words of Sir David Attenborough hismself.
Click on the video below and you can see the partnership of Gobi Fish and Pistol Shrimp in action.
For additional information on this fascinating creature, check out this great article at National Geographic!
Written by: Ben Lovatt
