The team also found that the elastic modulus of the club changes as a function of depth – the effect being that some of the impact energy is reflected back towards the surface as the shock propagates into the club. This change in the modulus could also reflect a propagating crack, thus reducing the risk of fracture. The team believes that insights from the shrimp's formidable club could lead to better body armour based on composites of hard ceramic and elastic organic materials.
This is not the first time that mantis shrimps have been on biophysicists' radar. The animals are known to have a highly developed visual system and in 2008 researchers showed that two species of the shrimp can detect the circular polarization of light – the first living organisms shown to do so