Mantis Shrimp Research Articles

Mantis shrimp appendages-inspired Ag-CuO contact: Synergistically enhancing the erosion and impact resistance via gradient-layered scatter-island/chain-skeleton structure

Materials degradation induced by repeated arc erosion and impact poses a considerable challenge for Ag-based contacts. Fortunately, nature has evolved efficient strategies to construct complex gradient-layered structure that exhibit exceptional erosion and impact resistance. Drawing inspiration by the mantis shrimp appendages, a chain-like CuO nanofibre-reinforced Ag-CuO contact material with a gradient-layered scatter-island/chain-skeleton structure was designed and fabricated. Employing a combined experimental and simulation approach, the evolution of the microstructure during the erosion process was investigated. Results indicated that the interaction between the mantis shrimp appendage-like structure and the chain-like CuO nanofibres effectively suppressed the formation of cracks and pores on the contact surface. Particularly, the scatter-island layer not only played a crucial role in maintaining the viscosity of the molten pool and establishing stable electrical and thermal pathways, but also functioned as a “supplement” to continuously supply a steady source of Ag onto the molten pool surface, effectively promoting CuO skeleton restructuring. Meanwhile, the CuO skeleton diffusive-continuous restructuring of the chain-skeleton layer restricted molten pool flow, significantly enhancing contact erosion resistance. Furthermore, the strong synergistic effect between the gradient-layered structures dispersed stress and deformation concentration on the contact surface. It effectively delayed the defects formation and suppressed interfacial debonding, thereby endowing the contact with excellent impact resistance. Our work presents a fascinated route for designing novel biomimetic Ag-based contacts.

Energy absorption characteristics of a bio-inspired prepreg carbon fiber crash box under quasi-static axial compression

Reducing vehicle weight is crucial for enhancing fuel efficiency and reducing emissions in transportation. Traditional composite materials offer improved energy absorption over metals yet are limited by brittleness. This study introduces an innovative approach, inspired by the mantis shrimp's natural defense mechanisms, to enhance the crashworthiness and energy absorption of composite structures, optimizing safety and performance. Utilizing a bio-inspired design, we developed corrugated Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) crash box structures, aiming to optimize their energy absorption capabilities and crash force efficiency (CFE) for potential applications in transportation safety. Through a series of quasi-static axial compression tests, the corrugated structures' performance was evaluated against traditional crash box designs. The experimental results demonstrate that the bio-inspired configurations improved crashworthiness characteristics. Strategic manipulation of layer numbers and corrugations led to superior CFE values, indicative of safer, more controlled collision behavior. The “7N-6L” configuration featuring seven corrugations with six layers of CFRP demonstrated the highest efficacy, achieving an optimal CFE of 1.08. This configuration demonstrated a Specific Energy Absorption (SEA) of 1.56 J/g and an Energy Absorption (Ea) of 42.56 J. Furthermore, compared to conventional steel crash boxes, the CFRP crash box with 7N-6L corrugated structure showcased competitive energy absorption capabilities with significantly reduced mass, absorbing 2850 J with a CFE of 0.91, nearly matching the ideal CFE and highlighting its superior lightweight performance. These results underline the potential of integrating bio-inspired designs to develop robust, lightweight structures for improved crashworthiness, paving the way for safer and more sustainable transportation solutions.

Optimal interply angle of bio-inspired composite curved panels with helicoidal fiber architecture

The exoskeleton structure of mantis shrimp’s dactyl clubs presents an extraordinary helicoidal reinforcement pattern, holding immense potential for revolutionizing fiber-reinforced composite materials. While extensive investigations have shed light on its unique advantages, the inherent nature of curved Bouligand structures remains incompletely comprehended. To elucidate these unexplored characteristics, the present study introduces a novel analytical model to efficiently calculate the interlaminar shear and normal stresses in helicoidal laminated curved beams under transverse loading. The analytical model systematically determines the optimal uniform fiber interply (pitch) angle for these bio-inspired structures with an arbitrary number of layers. The computational analysis revealed that achieving minimum interlaminar stresses always requires the precise orientation of π or 2π helicoids along the laminate thickness when the number of layers exceeds two. This theoretical discovery is remarkably identical to the study of stacked chitin fibrils in arthropod clubs reported in the literature. For a 37-ply composite, the flat and shallow-curved beam configurations primarily resulted in a 5° optimal pitch angle, while the deep-curved configuration yielded a 10° optimal angle. To validate the model, three-point bending testing were performed. Four fiber pitch angles were thoroughly examined, including the optimal and quad angles. The digital image correlation (DIC) technique was employed to analyze the structural responses and detect the onset of delamination. The numerical and experimental results demonstrated good consistency, exhibiting significant enhancement in the delamination resistance of up to 30 percent with the optimal angle.

The mantis shrimp genus Clorida Eydoux & Souleyet, 1842 (Crustacea: Stomatopoda: Squillidae) in Japan, with the first Japanese record of Cloridina ichneumon (Fabricius, 1798)

The mantis shrimp genus Clorida Eydoux & Souleyet, 1842 (Crustacea: Stomatopoda: Squillidae) in Japan, with the first Japanese record of Cloridina ichneumon (Fabricius, 1798)

Enhancement of Colorimetric pH-Sensitive Film Incorporating Amomum tsao-ko Essential Oil as Antibacterial for Mantis Shrimp Spoilage Tracking and Fresh-Keeping.

Anthocyanin-based smart packaging has been widely used for food freshness monitoring, but it cannot meet the requirements of smart films with antibacterial properties. This study aimed to enhance the antibacterial properties of intelligent films by incorporating Amomum tsao-ko essential oil (AEO) for mantis shrimp spoilage tracking and keeping the product fresh. A smart film was designed by introducing AEO and purple potato anthocyanin (PPA) to a polyvinyl alcohol/cellulose nanocrystal (PVA/CNC) polymer matrix. Our findings revealed that APP and AEO imparted the smart film with a favorable oxygen barrier, UV protection, mechanical properties, and antioxidant and pH/NH3-sensitive functions. Interestingly, the PVA/CNC-AEO-PPA film achieved 45.41% and 48.25% bactericidal efficacy against S. putrefaciens and V. parahaemolyticus, respectively. Furthermore, a visual observation confirmed that the target film (PVA/CNC-AEO-PPA) changed color significantly during mantis shrimp spoilage: rose red-light red-pink-light gray-dark gray. Meanwhile, the PVA/CNC-AEO-PPA film retarded the quality deterioration of the mantis shrimp effectively. The PVA/CNC-AEO-PPA film shows great application potential in mantis shrimp preservation and freshness monitoring; it is expected to become a rapid sensor for detecting seafood quality non-destructively and a multifunctional film for better preservation of product quality.

A novel bionic mantis shrimp robot for tracking underwater moving objects

ABSTRACT Inspired by the agility of mantis shrimp, this paper presents the development of a novel bionic mantis shrimp robot with multiple pleopods coupled motion for underwater target recognition and tracking. Firstly, the novel bionic robot is constructed based on the inspiration from biological mantis shrimp. Secondly, a Kalman filter-based algorithm, namely MobileNet-YOLO (KMY), is created to collect datasets and train neural networks. Thirdly, a moving target following system is developed for the bionic mantis shrimp robot, in which a dual PID controller is used to track underwater moving targets. The real robot testing results show that the proposed control system can enable our bionic robot to follow a specific moving target in a narrow pool (2m × 1m × 1m), and the minimum turning radius can be up to 0.55m when the angle between the robot's initial motion and the motion of target is 90°.

Length-Weight Relationship and Condition Factors of the Mantis Shrimp, Oratosquillina interrupta (Kemp 1911), in Bone Bay, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Length-Weight Relationship and Condition Factors of the Mantis Shrimp, Oratosquillina interrupta (Kemp 1911), in Bone Bay, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Unusual Case of Esophageal Foreign Body: A Whole Mantis Shrimp.

Esophageal foreign bodies (FBs) are one of the common emergencies in otolaryngology, usually involving objects accidentally swallowed, and generally do not result in severe respiratory distress. This article presents an extremely rare case of an esophageal FB, where a 44-year-old man accidentally ingested an entire mantis shrimp while sucking its flavored tail, and was sent to the emergency department for severe throat pain and difficulty breathing. We immediately performed a laryngoscopy that revealed the FB that obstructs the entrance of the esophagus, obstructing the glottis due to the long shape of the shrimp. The mantis shrimp had barbs on its shell and trying to remove it intact would cause significant damage to the pharyngeal mucosa. Therefore, we extracted the mantis shrimp in segments under general anesthesia and applied electrocoagulation to stop bleeding from the damaged and bleeding posterior pharyngeal mucosa. As an esophagography was performed the following day, there were no signs of esophageal perforation. Through the detailed description and analysis of this case, our aim is to raise clinical awareness among physicians of such rare occurrences. Most important, appropriate examination and procedures of FBs should be performed based on the type, shape, and location of the FB.

ECR Spotlight – Patrick Green

ECR Spotlight is a series of interviews with early-career authors from a selection of papers published in Journal of Experimental Biology and aims to promote not only the diversity of early-career researchers (ECRs) working in experimental biology but also the huge variety of animals and physiological systems that are essential for the ‘comparative’ approach. Patrick Green, the author of ‘ Behavior and morphology combine to influence energy dissipation in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda)’, published in JEB. Patrick is starting as an Assistant Professor at Brown University, USA, in autumn 2024, investigating integrative approaches to understanding how animals gather information and make decisions in contexts like competition.

Behavior and morphology combine to influence energy dissipation in mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda).

Animals deliver and withstand physical impacts in diverse behavioral contexts, from competing rams clashing their antlers together to archerfish impacting prey with jets of water. Though the ability of animals to withstand impact has generally been studied by focusing on morphology, behaviors may also influence impact resistance. Mantis shrimp exchange high-force strikes on each other's coiled, armored telsons (tailplates) during contests over territory. Prior work has shown that telson morphology has high impact resistance. I hypothesized that the behavior of coiling the telson also contributes to impact energy dissipation. By measuring impact dynamics from high-speed videos of strikes exchanged during contests between freely moving animals, I found that approximately 20% more impact energy was dissipated by the telson as compared with findings from a prior study that focused solely on morphology. This increase is likely due to behavior: because the telson is lifted off the substrate, the entire body flexes after contact, dissipating more energy than exoskeletal morphology does on its own. While variation in the degree of telson coil did not affect energy dissipation, proportionally more energy was dissipated from higher velocity strikes and from strikes from more massive appendages. Overall, these findings show that analysis of both behavior and morphology is crucial to understanding impact resistance, and suggest future research on the evolution of structure and function under the selective pressure of biological impacts.

Recoil protects mantis shrimp from mighty blows

Recoil protects mantis shrimp from mighty blows

Mechanical performance and optimization strategies of mantis shrimp rod inspired beam structural composites

Mechanical performance and optimization strategies of mantis shrimp rod inspired beam structural composites

Study on projectile impact resistance of carbon-glass hybrid bioinspired helical composite laminate

Mantis shrimp dactyl clubs have excellent impact resistance due to their special helical structure. Meanwhile, hybrid fibre has become increasingly popular to improve the mechanical properties of composite materials. Based on the helical structure of the periodic region of mantis shrimp dactyl clubs and hybrid fibres, in this study, a hybrid fibre helical lay-up laminate (HHL) is designed. The laminates are prepared using unidirectional carbon fibre prepregs and unidirectional glass fibre prepregs. To study the protective performance and damage process of HHL, a light gas gun impact test and numerical simulation calculations were carried out on the specimens. The harvested protective capability of the HHL specimen was then compared with those of carbon fibre unidirectional lay-up laminate (CUL), carbon fibre helical lay-up laminate (CHL), and hybrid fibre unidirectional lay-up laminate (HUL) specimens. The ballistic protection capability of HHL at different helical lay-up angles was also explored. The testing results show that HHL has the best ballistic protection performance. HHL’s ballistic limiting velocity is 228.5 m/s, which is 49.5%, 30.8%, and 19.9% higher than those of CUL (152.8 m/s), CHL (174.7 m/s), and HUL (190.5 m/s), respectively. Finally, hybrid fibres with a 90° interlaminar helix angle were found to have the highest ballistic limiting velocity. The reason is that the larger interlaminar angle allowed more fibres to be involved in the protection, increasing the energy loss of the projectile and enhancing the protection of the laminate.

Biomimetic nanocluster photoreceptors for adaptative circular polarization vision

Nanoclusters with atomically precise structures and discrete energy levels are considered as nanoscale semiconductors for artificial intelligence. However, nanocluster electronic engineering and optoelectronic behavior have remained obscure and unexplored. Hence, we create nanocluster photoreceptors inspired by mantis shrimp visual systems to satisfy the needs of compact but multi-task vision hardware and explore the photo-induced electronic transport. Wafer-scale arrayed photoreceptors are constructed by a nanocluster-conjugated molecule heterostructure. Nanoclusters perform as an in-sensor charge reservoir to tune the conductance levels of artificial photoreceptors by a light valve mechanism. A ligand-assisted charge transfer process takes place at nanocluster interface and it features an integration of spectral-dependent visual adaptation and circular polarization recognition. This approach is further employed for developing concisely structured, multi-task, and compact artificial visual systems and provides valuable guidelines for nanocluster neuromorphic devices.

Flexural performance of nature-inspired 3D-printed strain-hardening cementitious composites (3DP-SHCC) with Bouligand structures

Inspired by nature, this study employed the Bouligand structures, as observed in the dactyl club of mantis shrimp, to enhance the performance of 3D-printed Strain-Hardening Cementitious Composites (3DP-SHCC). Twenty sets of printed and mold-cast specimens were prepared to investigate the effects of Bouligand structures on the flexural performance of 3DP-SHCC. Three printing patterns (parallel, cross, and Bouligand printing) and five pitch angles (15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°) were used for the Bouligand printing pattern. The results showed that the flexural performance of parallel-printed SHCC exhibited significant directionality. The flexural strength and toughness of parallel-printed SHCC in the X direction were 1.28 times and 3.27 times greater than the mold-cast SHCC. However, the flexural strength and toughness in the Y direction were 0.58 times and 0.25 times those of the mold-cast SHCC. The cross-printed and Bouligand-printed SHCC alleviated the directionality. The flexural performance of cross-printed SHCC was lower than that of the mold-cast SHCC. Compared to parallel-printed SHCC, the flexural strength and toughness of Bouligand-printed SHCC increased by 1.25 to 1.73 times and 3.48 to 5.10 times, respectively, in the Y direction. Bouligand-printing twisted the fiber angles, enabling effective crack bridging across multiple directions and endowing the SHCC with uniform mechanical properties in various directions. The Bouligand structures provided valuable inspiration for optimizing 3DP-SHCC structures.

Rigidity-toughness coupling in architected composite materials for enhanced impact resistance

In recent decades, architected composite materials have received increasing attention due to its promising potential in improving the impact resistance performance compared with bulk materials. Some ingenious microstructures of biomaterials can enlighten the design of novel architected composite materials, such as nacre, conch shell and dactyl club of mantis shrimp, which have been extensively applied. Here, in order to further enhance the impact resistance of architected composite materials, hybrid architectures are proposed based on nacre-like brick-mud and sponge-like lamellar architectures. Then, their impact resistance performances and mechanism are investigated by combining experiment with finite element simulation. The results show that through positive hybrid design inspired of the dactyl club, the lamellar bottom makes the hybrid architecture retain excellent toughness, and the brick-mud top guarantees large flexural stiffness, thereby achieving rigidity-toughness coupling and boosting the energy absorption dramatically. Moreover, as the decline of volume ratio of soft phases within and between brick-mud layers, the energy absorption of brick-mud architecture gradually increases owing to the rising damage resistance. Further, the rigidity-toughness coupled effect can be optimized by positively hybridizing multiple architectures with larger variation in flexural stiffness and toughness, even achieving 375 % improvement in energy absorption compared with the basic brick-mud architecture.

Designing Lightweight 3D-Printable Bioinspired Structures for Enhanced Compression and Energy Absorption Properties.

Recent progress in additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has offered several benefits, including high geometrical freedom and the ability to create bioinspired structures with intricate details. Mantis shrimp can scrape the shells of prey molluscs with its hammer-shaped stick, while beetles have highly adapted forewings that are lightweight, tough, and strong. This paper introduces a design approach for bioinspired lattice structures by mimicking the internal microstructures of a beetle's forewing, a mantis shrimp's shell, and a mantis shrimp's dactyl club, with improved mechanical properties. Finite element analysis (FEA) and experimental characterisation of 3D printed polylactic acid (PLA) samples with bioinspired structures were performed to determine their compression and impact properties. The results showed that designing a bioinspired lattice with unit cells parallel to the load direction improved quasi-static compressive performance, among other lattice structures. The gyroid honeycomb lattice design of the insect forewings and mantis shrimp dactyl clubs outperformed the gyroid honeycomb design of the mantis shrimp shell, with improvements in ultimate mechanical strength, Young's modulus, and drop weight impact. On the other hand, hybrid designs created by merging two different designs reduced bending deformation to control collapse during drop weight impact. This work holds promise for the development of bioinspired lattices employing designs with improved properties, which can have potential implications for lightweight high-performance applications.

THE CRUSTACEAN'S EXPORT-IMPORT MAPPING OF FISH QUARANTINE AND INSPECTION AGENCY (FQIA) JAKARTA I ON 2021-2022 PERIOD

Indonesia's crustacean has great potential fisheries business. The depletion of fisheries natural resources needs to be solved to avoid overfishing, especially for crustaceans. The study aim was to analyze crustacean diversity and mapping its products on export and import markets, as well as to analyze the sustainability of crustacean export-import across Indonesia. The study was conducted at FQIA Jakarta I on January until February 2023. The descriptive analysis method was used. The results of the study showed that Indonesia's fisheries export were higher than import activities. On crustacean exports, the highest destination country for lobster (Panulirus sp.) is Cina, the highest destination country for crab (Portunus pelagicus) is the USA, the highest destination country for mud crab (Scylla serrata) is Cina, and the highest destination countries for mantis shrimp (Squilla mantis) are Hongkong and Cina. Meanwhile, for imported crustaceans, snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) came from Japan, and American lobster (Homarus americanus) came from Canada and USA. The overfishing has not occurred as illustrated for fishing grounds in Indonesia. It indicated by the average of annual catch value which has not higher than MSY catch. Keywords: Crustacea, fish market, fishing ground, annual catch, sustainable.

Bouligand-like structured CNT film with tunable impact performance through pitch angle and intertube interaction

The Bouligand structure, characterized by a helicoidal arrangement of fibers, is prevalent in arthropods. Leveraging the exceptional impact resistance inherent in this structure, mantis shrimp could effortlessly crack the shells of shellfish using their dactyl club. Drawing inspiration from this natural phenomenon, we propose a novel Bouligand-like structured carbon nanotube film (BCNF) that combines the Bouligand structure with super-strong one-dimensional carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Through systematic investigation via molecular dynamics simulations, we explore the impact resistance and energy dissipation properties of BCNF. Our results reveal that the impact behaviors under different velocities can be tuned by adjusting the pitch angle of BCNFs. At an impact velocity of 1 km/s, the projectile exhibits three typical phenomena after impact, including embedding in the film, bouncing back, and penetration. At an impact velocity of 2 km/s, all films are penetrated. Furthermore, to enhance the impact resistance of BCNF, we introduce intertube crosslinking bonds, forming a crosslinked Bouligand-like structured CNT film (CBCNF). The study demonstrates that crosslinking effectively modulates the energy dissipation mode of the film. With increasing crosslinking density, the predominant energy dissipation mode shifts from interface sliding and bending of the CNTs to the fracture and collapse of CNTs. This research provides valuable insights into the microstructure design of CNT-based films and offers theoretical guidance for their applications in impact protection.

Hydrodynamic modelling and motion characteristics of flexible swimming limbs for asymmetric swinging underwater soft robots

In this paper, an asymmetrical swinging bionic mantis shrimp underwater soft robot based on dielectric elastomers is presented. This robot can be driven through water by swinging swimming limbs. Flexible swimming limbs with different geometries are designed, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are utilized to explore the optimal motion efficiency and adaptive geometry. Furthermore, hydrodynamic models of underwater soft robots with different structures, rotational speeds, and flexibility angles are constructed to accurately represent the dynamic characteristics of different structures and deformation angles under sudden excitation. Additionally, the accuracy of the hydrodynamic model of the underwater soft robot is verified through force measurements, while the validity of the numerical simulations is demonstrated through particle image velocimetry (PIV) field experiments, further confirming the effectiveness of the robot’s capabilities.