The Boxing Glove Shrimp (not kosher)

Among the fascinating creatures of the deep is a finger-size shrimp with an oversize claw resembling a boxing glove that it uses to stun its prey by snapping the claw shut. The snapping produces a sharp cracking sound.

When colonies of the shrimp snap their claws, the cacophony is so intense that submarines can take advantage of it to hide from sonar.

Lohse and his colleagues reported in the September 22, 2000, issue of “Science” that the stunning snap comes not from the clap of the claws coming together but from a bubble generated by the claws’ rapid closing motion.

When the claw snaps shut, a jet of water shoots out from a socket in the claw at speeds of up to 62 miles an hour, generating a low-pressure bubble in its wake. As the pressure stabilizes, the bubble collapses with a loud bang.

The researchers have dubbed the shrimp activity shrimpoluminescence.

The researchers say the light emitted from the snapping shrimp’s bubbles suggests that the temperature inside the bubbles must be at least 8,540 degrees Fahrenheit at the time of collapse. (the melting point of structural steel is approximately 2,750 degrees F)

The duration of the flash that occurs when the main bubble collapses is extremely short, lasting no longer than 10 nanoseconds and as short as 300 picoseconds, said Lohse. A picosecond is one trillionth of a second, a time scale beyond the measurement capability of the researchers’ tools.

just to sum up: a little shrimp moves its claws with such rapidity and control (coordinated with another complex integrated system that shoots a jet of water precisely timed to the exceedingly rapid closing of the jaws) creating the necessary bubble to create a light flash hotter than the hottest fire in the world, and an extremely intense sound.

of course the shape and functional structure of the claw as well as the structures that it hinges on, the muscles, nerves, central nervous system, have to be specifically and complexly INTEGRATED with the central and peripheral control mechanisms of the other behaviors of the little shrimp, as well as touch, vision, smell, and sight.

in what varied, complex and wondrous ways has the Boreh kindly demonstrated for us His wisdom, planning and cunningness in The World, TO STRENGTHEN OUR EMUNAH!!