Small But Mighty
Lucille Chapuis, Dane Gerneke
Crustaceans feature a striking and broad communicative repertoire, which depends on a variety of sensory organs and nervous circuitry allowing the detection of visual, acoustic, chemical and mechanosensory signals. Snapping shrimps are known for their wide range of social associations and behaviours. One of their first legs bears a voluminous claw with a complex snapping mechanism. The snap of the claw creates a cavitation bubble so loud that it is detectable for hundreds of meters underwater. In this image are particularly striking the visual system (compound eyes) and the statocyst complex (very bright), hypothesised to sense acoustic stimuli underwater.