rhamphotheca:

animalworld: PISTOL SHRIMP - Super Family: Alpheoidea

©Ellen Muller

You may notice that one claw of a pistol shrimp is much larger than the other, and very strangely shaped. This large claw serves as both its lethal weapon, and its voice. This claw can be forcefully snapped shut, shooting a jet of water out at such a high speed that it actually vaporizes the water. This causes a small air bubble to form. The bubble collapses with enough force to send concussive shockwaves capable of stunning and incapacitating prey.

The loud blast created by a pistol shrimp’s claw can be heard from great distances. Because of this, they also use their claw for communicating with other pistol shrimps. When you listen underwater you may hear a lot of popping sounds. Some of them may be made by pistol shrimps firing off their sound waves to communicate with each other.

The snap can also produce sonoluminescence from the collapsing cavitation bubble. As it collapses, the cavitation bubble reaches temperatures of over 5,000 K (4,700 °C).  In comparison, the surface temperature of the sun is estimated to be around 5,800 K (5,500 °C). The light is of lower intensity than the light produced by typical sonoluminescence and is not visible to the naked eye. It is most likely a by-product of the shock wave with no biological significance. However, it was the first known instance of an animal producing light by this effect.

Source: http://aquamarinediscovery.blogspot.com/2009/04/pistol-shrimp.html

Pistol Shrimp in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKPrGxB1Kzc&feature=player_embedded

Other posts:

Rainbow Mantis Shrimp

Sexy Anemone Shrimp

Peppermint Shrimp