“Snaps a claw so fast it shoots a bubble hotter than the sun's surface.”

The pistol shrimp is barely the length of your thumb, yet it is one of the loudest animals in the ocean. It has one comically oversized claw that it cocks open and snaps shut so violently that it fires a jet of water fast enough to create a collapsing bubble — a phenomenon called cavitation. When that bubble pops, it briefly flashes a tiny spark of light and reaches temperatures rivaling the surface of the sun, producing a shockwave that stuns prey from a distance. Colonies of them snapping together are so noisy they can jam submarine sonar. All this from a creature that mostly wants to tidy up its burrow, which it often shares, sweetly, with a near-blind goby that acts as its lookout. Tiny, deafening, and a good roommate.

Scientific name

Alpheidae

Size

Thumb-sized (3–5 cm).

Habitat

Tropical and temperate coastal seabeds worldwide.

Diet

Small fish and invertebrates stunned by its snap.

Conservation

LC · Least Concern

Picnic threat level

Picnic threat: would ruin the audio on your picnic video.

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