It can move almost as fast as a speeding bullet and packs a punch powerful enough to break aquarium glass. Mantis shrimp aren’t your average cocktail shrimp – technically they’re not even shrimp.

The approximately 400 species of mantis shrimp are divided into two groups, the spearers and the smashers. The difference is the kind of formidable claw they use to catch their prey. Both types of these often colorful crustaceans are excellent hunters, but the smashers are a lot faster. They lie still waiting for a snail, crab, clam or oyster to come within range. Then, the mantis shrimp pound their prey with an acceleration up to 10,000 times the acceleration of gravity, reaching speeds up to 50 mph in as little as 2.7 milliseconds! Though not the mantis shrimps’ usual meal, even octopus and larger fish can be stunned to death by the shrimp’s smasher claw.

Sharks may be top predators in the sea, but they can be prey as well, especially as babies. Researchers have learned that young sharks can sense nearby predators and then act to avoid detection – even when still in their egg case.

Biologists already knew sharks can sense possible prey by detecting electrical fields produced by nearby fish. However, scientists did not know whether shark embryos would adjust their own biological processes to reduce their risk of being discovered as prey themselves.