Mantis shrimp

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Mantis shrimp are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (from Ancient Greek στόμα (stóma) 'mouth' and πούς (poús) 'foot'). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 400 million years ago, with more than 520 extant species of mantis shrimp known. All living species are in the suborder Unipeltata, which arose around 250 million years ago. They are among the most important predators in many shallow, tropical and subtropical marine habitats. Despite being common in their habitats, they are poorly understood, as many species spend most of their lives sheltering in burrows and holes. Dubbed "sea locusts" by ancient Assyrians, "prawn killers" in Australia, and now sometimes referred to as "thumb splitters" due to their ability to inflict painful wounds if handled incautiously, mantis shrimp possess powerful raptorial appendages that are used to attack and kill prey either by spearing, stunning, or dismembering; the shape of these appendages...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Roy L. Caldwell, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Public domain