• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • About
  • Image & Use Policy
  • Translations
  • Glossary

SUPPORT UE

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

UC MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY

UC Berkeley logoUC Berkeley

Understanding Evolution

Understanding Evolution

Your one-stop source for information on evolution

Understanding Evolution

  • Home
  • Evolution 101
    • An introduction to evolution: what is evolution and how does it work?
      • 1_historyoflife_menu_iconThe history of life: looking at the patterns – Change over time and shared ancestors
      • 2_mechanisms_menu_iconMechanisms: the processes of evolution – Selection, mutation, migration, and more
      • 3_microevo_menu_iconMicroevolution – Evolution within a population
      • 4_speciation_menu_iconSpeciation – How new species arise
      • 5_macroevo_menu_iconMacroevolution – Evolution above the species level
      • 6_bigissues_menu_iconThe big issues – Pacing, diversity, complexity, and trends
  • Teach Evolution
    • Lessons and teaching tools
      • Teaching Resources
      • Image Library
      • Using research profiles with students
      • Active-learning slides for instruction
      • Using Evo in the News with students
      • Guide to Evo 101 and Digging Data
    • Conceptual framework
      • Alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards
      • teach-evo-menu-icon
    • Teaching guides
      • K-2 teaching guide
      • 3-5 teaching guide
      • 6-8 teaching guide
      • 9-12 teaching guide
      • Undergraduate teaching guide

    • Misconceptions about evolution

    • Dealing with objections to evolution
      • Information on controversies in the public arena relating to evolution
  • Learn Evolution

Home → A crustacean sound and light show

    A crustacean sound and light show

    Photo of a snapping shrimp.
    A snapping shrimp. Photo by Robert Streif, © Barbara Schmitz, and provided by the snapping shrimp website.

    Mantis shrimp are not the only crustaceans with a fast and deadly foreleg. Snapping shrimp (a true shrimp) are armed with a powerful claw, which they use in an unusual way. When prey is nearby, the shrimp snaps its out-sized claw shut — but the claw doesn’t actually close on the intended victim. Instead, the snap is so powerful that it forms a bubble. The collapse of the bubble sends a shock wave through the water that stuns or kills the shrimp’s prey. And, surprisingly, the reverse-pop of the bubble makes a snapping noise loud enough to disrupt underwater communication and generates a flash of light. The researchers who discovered this underwater light show gave the phenomenon a flashy name: shrimpoluminescence.

    Footer

    Connect

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    Teach

    • Teaching resource database
    • Correcting misconceptions
    • Conceptual framework and NGSS alignment
    • Image and use policy

    Learn

    • Evo 101
    • Evo in the News
    • The Tree Room
    • Browse learning resources
    • Glossary

    Copyright © 2023 · UC Museum of Paleontology Understanding Evolution · Privacy Policy