Snapping shrimp make flashing bubbles.
Snapping shrimp produce a loud crackling noise that is intense enough to disturb underwater communication. This sound originates from the violent collapse of a large cavitation bubble generated under the tensile forces of a high-velocity water jet formed when the shrimp's snapper-claw snaps shut (Fig. 1). Here we show that a short, intense flash of light is emitted as the bubble collapses, indicating that extreme pressures and temperatures of at least 5,000 K (ref. 4) must exist inside the bubble at the point of collapse. We have dubbed this phenomenon 'shrimpoluminescence' - the first observation, to our knowledge, of this mode of light production in any animal - because of its apparent similarity to sonoluminescence, the light emission from a bubble periodically driven by ultrasound.
Lohse
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Faculty of Applied Physics and J. M. Burgers Research Centre for Fluid Dynamics, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. lohse@tn.utwente.nl
Schmitz
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B
Versluis
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D000818:Animals; D033364:Decapoda / Q000502:physiology*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D011235:Predatory Behavior