Green Marbled Mantis Shrimp

Guardian: Elisabeth Dierickx

Gonodactylus platysoma

Do not invite a ‘Smasher’ mantis to dinner. It eats hard shelled snails and crabs and does so by punching them, firstly to kill them and then it continues punching them until it smashes open their shell or carapace. You can imagine the mess this would make, the side salad would be splattered everywhere, the plate smashed and if the shrimp were human-sized, it would probably break your table.