Mantis shrimp use a latch-and-spring click mechanism to strike at extreme speed underwater

Evidence

Mantis shrimp hurl their legs with incredible speed during these blows, which is nontrivial considering they are underwater. Sheila Patek and Roy Caldwell, studying the mechanics of the predatory strike of the peacock mantis shrimp, found that they accomplish this feat using a “click” mechanism in which a rigid latch locks the limb into a spring-loaded and cocked position. When this lock is released, the weapon snaps forward using elastic recoil from energy stored in the bending of the skeleton, exactly like releasing the recoil stored in a fully drawn archer’s bow. Once released, their legs blaze through the water at strike speeds of up to sixty miles per hour which, when scaled down to the size of these “shrimp,” means that the entire strike takes just two one-thousandths of a second. These little predators are contenders for the fastest weapon strikers in the animal kingdom. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 119

Categorization

• XREF: The latch/spring click mechanism echoes the spring-loaded mantis forelimbs already described, showing convergent mechanics. — connects to: Mantis shrimp strike at sixty miles per hour using stored elastic recoil.; Cavitation bubbles amplify mantis shrimp strikes into deadly shock waves — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 120
• QUESTION: Does this latch-and-spring energy storage mechanism appear convergently in human-designed or other animal weapons?

Related

• Mantis shrimp strike at sixty miles per hour using stored elastic recoil. (similarity 0.96)
• Cavitation bubbles amplify mantis shrimp strikes into deadly shock waves (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Cavitation bubbles amplify mantis shrimp strikes into deadly shock waves #expands (0.85) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 120