Welcome back to Wednesday, folks! We’ve experienced a lot of bird love in the PT recently. If you haven’t checked out the lovely weekend headers in recent weeks, I encourage you to go take a look and see some great bird photos and learn some great bird facts.

But today, let’s go underwater and celebrate another cool creature.

This beautiful little creature is the mantis shrimp. But it’s not just pretty, it’s also basically a superhero. The mantis shrimp is capable of punching with a force of 15,000 newtons (that’s a lot of newtons), a punch so powerful that it produces light and heat. We’re talking as hot as the sun for the briefest of instances.

Now, a super powerful punch would be reason enough to be awe of this animal, BUT THERE’S MORE. That’s right, the mantis shrimp has potentially the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom! Two eyes, each with trinocular vision. That’s right, it’s got SEXNOCULAR vision. Oh yeah. Nice. And its eyes can be moved independently! If that’s not enough, their eyes have 16 different color receptors! 16! Humans typically have 3. And their eyes can see circularly polarized light, basically the only animal we know of that can do such a thing.

Mantis shrimp biology might provide clues to improve our own lives. Their resilient clubs, which can withstand the force of their powerful punches, and their tough shells, have been studied by engineers and materials scientists to try to devise more resilient materials for humans. Their eyesight might provide new ways for detecting cancer due to the way polarized light reflects off difference surfaces. How cool is that?

Of course, every superhero needs its supervillain, and mantis shrimp seems to have a nemesis in the the disco clam, whose flashing lights have been known to stun the mantis shrimp. Truly, a battle for the ages.

… Still not enough? Well, what if I told you mantis shrimps were staunch Democrats and always support labor unions?

Be kind and thoughtful today. And also colorful, strong, and uniquely yourself — like the mantis shrimp. Cheers.