Siblings walking along UK coast find ‘elusive’ aquatic predator ‘tangled’ up. See it
A pair of siblings walking along the coast of the United Kingdom spotted an unfamiliar-looking aquatic predator “tangled” up. A video shows the “rare” and “elusive” animal after being freed.
Jean Saunders was walking along the shore of Bouldnor when they “noticed movement,” Saunders told the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust in a Dec. 20 news release. “On closer inspection, I found a mud-covered creature about four inches long, tangled in seagrass and hard to identify.”
“My brother and I carefully moved it into a shallow pool,” Saunders said. “Once the mud washed off, we got a clearer view but still couldn’t place it.”
Intrigued, Saunders sent a video of the animal to wildlife officials who identified it as a mantis shrimp.
Mantis shrimp “are not true shrimp” but rather “a relative of crabs and lobsters,” wildlife officials said. They have “sharp, spiny claws designed to grasp and impale prey” and are “impressive predators that can kill prey bigger than themselves.”
Mantis shrimp also have “the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom” and can see ultraviolet light, officials said.
A video from Saunders, shared on YouTube by the Wildlife Trust, shows the mantis shrimp swimming through the shallow water, occasionally pausing or curling quickly into a ball.
“Sightings of mantis shrimp in U.K. waters are rare,” officials said. These predators spend most of their life hidden in burrows, making them “particularly hard to spot” and generally “elusive.”
“It’s the best record of a live mantis shrimp in UK waters that I’ve ever seen,” Tim Ferrero, a specialist with the organization, said in the release. “What’s even better is this record showing the mantis shrimp within seagrass, a habitat vitally important for marine life.”
“Rising ocean temperatures could lead to more (mantis shrimp) sightings in the U.K.,” wildlife officials said.
Bouldnor is on the northern coast of the Isle of Wight, an island near the southern coast of the U.K. and roughly 75 miles southwest from London.
This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 10:47 AM with the headline "Siblings walking along UK coast find ‘elusive’ aquatic predator ‘tangled’ up. See it."
