Abstract

Mantis shrimp strikes are one of the fastest animal movements, despite the fact they occur in a water medium with viscous drag. Since the strike is produced by a latch-mediated spring-actuated system and is not directly driven by muscle action, we predicted that strikes performed in air would be faster than underwater due to the reduction in the medium’s drag. Using high-speed video analysis of stereotyped strikes elicited from Squilla mantis, we found the exact opposite: strikes are much slower and less powerful in air than in water. S. mantis strikes in air have a similar mass and performance to latch-mediated spring-actuated jumps in locusts, suggesting a potential threshold for the energetics of a 1-2 g limb moving in air. Drag forces induced by the media may be a key feature in the evolution of mantis shrimp strikes and provide a potential target for probing the braking system of these extremely fast movements.