Turbo (not Jumbo) Shrimp

During my second dive, I noticed something like a small, clawless lobster scurrying on the ocean floor, and pointed it out to my divemaster Rich. He signed to me to remember about it, he'd explain later, and then seemed to spent a fair bit of time observing the creature and was quite fascinated by it, moreso in fact than the Leopard Sharks we saw later. In my ignorance of marine life, I failed to appreciate its significance at the time.

It was only afterwards that Rich explained to me that what we saw was a Peacock Mantis Shrimp. They are actually quite rare to see, and are notable in that they have the ability to smash though the glass of an aquarium. This claim blew me away. Not that I doubted Rich's claim that that is what he heard, but I did feel the need to verify such an incredulous claim on Wikipedia, the de-facto respository of all human knowledge.

For those who remember their high school physics: KE = (1/2) m*v^2 (i.e. kinetic energy equals one half of mass times velocity squared). Given that m is that of, well, a shrimp, it must generate some pretty tremendous v. And sure enough: it can generate an instantaneous speed of up to 82 km/h. Quite a trick for such an innocuous looking creature; in fact it is one highly effective killing machine. Good thing they're too small to prey on divers.

It reminded me of a poem I once read by the American poet Ogden Nash. Noted for his humerous, witty, and pithy poems, he did write one serious one that captured his profound respect of the natural world. It begins: "There is wonder to be found, in every living thing", but alas, I forget the rest. Anyone out there able to find the rest of it?

And there certainly is no shortage of wonder in the creatures above or below the surface of the ocean.