The Mantis Shrimp

Have you ever heard of the mantis shrimp?
The second word might make it sound like a wimp,
But it’s actually quite the heavy hitter.
Some people even call it “thumb splitter.”
The spearer variety stabs at prey,
While the smasher is apt to knock it away.
Both types can swing their raptorial claws
So fast that they seem to defy the laws
And produce vapor-filled cavitation bubbles.
That might be the start and end of prey’s troubles,
For even if they should avoid the punch,
The bubbles collapsing all in a bunch
Create a big shock wave to kill or stun.
And that’s not the only feature that’s fun:
The mantis shrimp’s eyes are the most advanced,
Leaving biologists quite entranced,
With at least 12 photoreceptors each,
Allowing their color perception to reach
From deep ultraviolet out to far-red.
What’s more, the mobile eyestalks on their head
Can move independently of each other,
And each has trinocular vision (oh brother).
Since very few others see polarized light,
The mantis shrimp move their bodies just right
To communicate in a secret code
(Which humans have cracked, as one study showed).
They’re said to predate the first dinosaur
By a hundred million years or more.
As sea creatures go, they’re practically gods.
Let’s hear it for the stomatopods!