| Cleaving Mantis Shrimp Claw | |
|---|---|
|
Origin |
Mantis Shrimp |
|
Type |
Crustacean Claw |
|
Effects |
Can impact anything and break it apart seamlessly without leaving damage marks |
|
Downsides |
Skews light perception to constant disarray |
|
Activation |
Contact while in water |
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 7 |
|
Section |
|
|
Date of Collection |
1246 AD |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Mantis shrimp are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda. 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. 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. These claws can accelerate at a rate comparable to that of a .22 caliber bullet when fired, having around 1500 newtons of force with each swing/attack. The shape of these appendages are often used to classify them into groups: extant mantis shrimp either have appendages which form heavily mineralized "clubs" that can strike with great power, or they have sharp, grasping forelimbs used to swiftly seize prey (similar to those of praying mantis, hence their common name).
In smashers, these two weapons are employed with blinding quickness, with an acceleration of 10,400 g (102,000 m/s2 or 335,000 ft/s2) and speeds of 23 m/s (83 km/h; 51 mph) from a standing start. Because they strike so rapidly, they generate vapor-filled bubbles in the water between the appendage and the striking surface—known as cavitation bubbles. The collapse of these cavitation bubbles produces measurable forces on their prey in addition to the instantaneous forces of 1,500 newtons that are caused by the impact of the appendage against the striking surface, which means that the prey is hit twice by a single strike; first by the claw and then by the collapsing cavitation bubbles that immediately follow. Even if the initial strike misses the prey, the resulting shock wave can be enough to stun or kill.
The eyes of the mantis shrimp are mounted on mobile stalks and can move independently of each other. The extreme mobility allows them to be rotated in all three dimensions, yet the position of their eyes has shown to have no effect on the perception of their surroundings. They are thought to have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom and have the most complex front-end for any visual system ever discovered. Each eye possesses trinocular vision, and therefore depth perception, for objects near its mid-plane. The upper and lower hemispheres are used primarily for recognition of form and motion, like the eyes of many other crustaceans.
Compared with the four types of photoreceptor cell that humans possess in their eyes, the eyes of a mantis shrimp have between 12 and 16 types of photoreceptor cells. Furthermore, some of these stomatopods can tune the sensitivity of their long wavelength color vision to adapt to their environment. Mantis shrimp can perceive wavelengths of light ranging from deep ultraviolet (300 nm) to far-red (720 nm) and polarized light, which has not been documented in any other animal. The eyes of mantis shrimp may enable them to recognize different types of coral, prey species (which are often transparent or semitransparent), or predators, such as barracuda, which have shimmering scales. Alternatively, the manner in which they hunt (very rapid movements of the claws) may require very accurate ranging information, which would require accurate depth perception. The capacity to see UV light may enable observation of otherwise hard-to-detect prey on coral reefs.
Effects[]
Contacting a surface while immersed in water will make the target seamlessly split apart, leaving no jagged edges or catastrophic breakup. The separate pieces can still fit back together like a puzzle by matching the outlines again. The speed of the impact is so fast, as sudden pop and flash of light appears from the resulting bubble collapsing. Any target, even a person, will not immediately register as separated and can still move around as a whole unit before falling apart to pieces.
It appears that reports of its usage by fisherman and pirates during the contemporary Yuan and Trần dynasties point to multiple existing at a time, possibly from the anomalous nature of the creatures themselves. At some point, rumors of the basic effect, slicing an opponent neatly with a delay, made it to Japanese shores and led to the idea of master swordsmen cutting a target that remained whole until their sword was sheathed.
Heavily distorts the structure of the eye to resemble the hemispherical structure of crustaceans and insects. Allows for greater degree of color, depth and wavelength perception compared to standard mammals. The effects are uncontrollable in stabilizing on any specific outlook for a time, so it causes great disorientation to the user during and after use.