For a tiny crustacean, Caribbean rock mantis shrimp (Neogonodactylus bredini) pack a ferocious punch. Bludgeoning the shells of snails and other crustaceans to gain access to the tasty snail within, mantis shrimp flick their cudgel-like claws at accelerations approaching those of a bullet exiting a gun. Yet, Rachel Crane from Stanford University, USA, explains that the ballistic shrimp is the odd one out in the world of snail and crustacean demolishers: ‘Animals like crabs and fish slowly crush shells’. However, despite the wealth of high-speed information about the mantis shrimp’s pulverising attacks, little was known about their overall strategies. Would the smashing crustaceans strike shells haphazardly or would they precisely pinpoint their assaults? And could they change their plan of attack if thwarted? Intrigued, Crane and her PI, Sheila Patek from Duke University, USA, began investigating the feisty creatures’ striking strategy and discovered that they specifically strike the most fragile regions of the shell. They published the discovery in Journal of Experimental Biology.