Underwater heavyweight mantis shrimp also packs a natural energy shield | Current Affairs | Vision IAS

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Underwater heavyweight mantis shrimp also packs a natural energy shield

2 min read

The Mantis Shrimp: Nature's Fearsome Predator

The mantis shrimp, a vibrant 10-cm-long crustacean, is renowned for its formidable predatory skills. This seemingly humble ocean resident utilizes a specialized appendage known as the dactyl club to deliver exceptionally powerful strikes to its prey.

Mantis Shrimp's Strike Mechanics

  • Capable of striking at a stunning speed of 23 m/s, which is approximately 50 times faster than a human eye blink.
  • The strike generates enough energy to produce shockwaves in the surrounding water.
  • Despite the forceful impact, the mantis shrimp remains unharmed due to a unique microstructure in its club.

Research Findings

A team of researchers from the US and France discovered the reason behind the mantis shrimp's resilience:

  • The dactyl club features a specialized phononic shielding ability, which helps dampen acoustic waves and reduces recoil.
  • Experiments involved firing laser pulses at the microstructure to observe its response in less than a billionth of a second.
  • Numerical simulations complemented the experiments to analyze wave interactions with the club's material.

Structural Composition of the Dactyl Club

  • Composed of three layers with a blend of mineral and organic materials, arranged hierarchically.
  • The outer layer consists of hydroxyapatite, an inorganic material that distributes recoil evenly.
  • The internal biopolymer fibers withstand repeated high-intensity impacts.

Significance of Phononic Bandgaps

  • The microstructure acts as a phononic bandgap, preventing certain frequency energy waves from passing through.
  • This phenomenon is pivotal in protecting the mantis shrimp from its powerful strikes' recoil.

Implications and Applications

  • The study challenges the notion that metamaterials are exclusive to laboratory production, showcasing that nature possesses such materials.
  • Potential applications include developing synthetic sound-filtering materials for protective gear like earmuffs.
  • The findings could inspire new methods to mitigate blast-related injuries in military and sports contexts.

Future Research Directions

  • Ongoing research aims to create biomimetic structures based on the mantis shrimp's architecture, with a focus on wave trapping.
  • Researchers are exploring possibilities for converting trapped energy into other forms.

The research underscores the mantis shrimp's unique evolutionary adaptations and opens doors for innovative material design inspired by nature.

  • Tags :
  • The Mantis Shrimp
  • Phononic Bandgaps
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