Stomatopod Images

Hemisquilla ensigera by Dr. Dave Cowles

Relatively large (>15 cm) mantis shrimp that lives subtidally off southern California. Its strike can take as little as 5 ms, while exerting a force up to 5 kg (Burrows and Hoyle, J Exp Zool 179, 379-394). Unlike most smashers, which tend to inhabit restricted locations such as small cavities in rocks and corals, this species constructs its own burrows in soft substrates such as mud. This is the species depicted in the PBS special Secrets of the Ocean Realm.

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