FORGET sharks, piranha fish or box jellyfish – something much more dangerous is washing up on beaches in the USA. Authorities in Delaware have issued a formal warning for locals to keep their distance from so-called “mantis shrimp” which are appearing on the sand after some major storms. “Also known...
FORGET sharks, piranha fish or box jellyfish – something much more dangerous is washing up on beaches in the USA.
Authorities in Delaware have issued a formal warning for locals to keep their distance from so-called “mantis shrimp” which are appearing on the sand after some major storms.
“Also known as ‘thumb splitters’, these aggressive crustaceans can easily injure a human or pet,” according to a report in USA Today.
The west Atlantic mantis shrimp (pictured courtesy of @delseashorestatepark on Instagram) has “a pair of long, jackknife claws that resemble a praying mantis which they use to spear or slice through prey with a quick, slashing motion”.
Striking fear into the heart of even the most intrepid beachgoers, the report cited the Chesapeake Bay Project noting that “the strike velocity of a mantis shrimp’s large, powerful claws is one of the fastest movements of any animal on earth…it takes less than 8 milliseconds to strike, which is about 50 times faster than the blink of a human eye”.
