Meet Backflip

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 by Anna.

We have a really cool new addition to our touch tank area - a mantis shrimp one of our campers dubbed Backflip.  Backflip was brought to us by a member of San Diego Yacht Club, who had caught him while she was fishing for whitefish for her dinner.  Not sure of what he was, she brought him over to us in a bucket, and asked us if we wanted him for our aquarium.  The obvious answer…yes!!!!

Note that I said we put him into the touch tank area…NOT the touch tank itself!  Mantis shrimp have incredibly strong, sharp front appendages that they use to attack and kill prey.  These intimidating claws can also slice off the fingers of an unsuspecting observer…not exactly something we want in the “touch” tank!  Instead, Backflip was put in his own tank on the top shelf, along with a sign reading “Danger! Do not reach in tank!  Severe lacerations could occur!”

Some cool mantis shrimp facts:

1.  Mantis shrimp can be either smashers or spearers.  Smashers have club-like appendages that are used to bludgeon and smash their prey apart.  Spearers stab and tear at their prey with spiny, barb-tipped apendages.

2. Mantis shrimp have one of the fastest (if not the fastest) feeding strikes in the whole animal kingdom.  Some species can move their appendages with the same acceleration as that of a .22 caliber bullet!

3. Their eyes are considered by many scientists to be the most complex in the animal kingdom, seeing colors that even we humans cannot.

Our new maintenance guy, Justin, has put a lot of effort into the aquarium area and it looks great, with several new tanks showing off all kinds of cool creatures.  Jeremy and Justin built Backflip a nice “cave” in the tank and made sure he was comfortable.  We’re hoping we can keep him for a while!

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