Baby mantis shrimp pack a serious punch — watch

Mantis shrimp are some of nature’s most deceptive predators.

Despite their size, the crustaceans punch above their weight with a strike that can kill prey in a single blow.

They’re known for punches fast enough to break glass and boil the water around them through pressure.

While the adult mantis shrimp has been well documented, scientists didn’t know as much about baby mantis shrimps’ abilities — until recently.

Research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology now shows when — and how powerfully — the mantis shrimp develops its pulverizing punch.

Their work shows that mantis shrimp as young as nine days old can perform the punishing strikes that make them such fearsome predators.

Both larvae and adults have a saddle-like structure in their arms that stores energy to be released in a single punch. Mantis shrimp larvae’s strikes accelerate as fast as adults’.