Oversized Alien-Like 'Shrimp' Caught Off Florida has been Identified

A fisherman who went fishing last week, in Fort Pierce, Florida, found what he calls an oversized "alien creature". Steve Bargeron had gone about doing what he does best when he saw a couple who were also there fishing pull up a strange looking creature.

He described the creature as a strange, lobster like animal that was flapping its tail wildly. He told Live Science that the couple was not interested in the oversized lobster-like animal. However, he wanted to know what the creature was, and so he took a few photos after which he put it back in the water.

The photo of the strange creature that intrigued the fisherman were put up on the internet and Roy Caldwell, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley saw the pictures. He said the alien marine creature was not an alien, but a mantis shrimp, or stomatopod. It is seen commonly in the waters of Florida and is a marine crustacean. "Praying Mantises have similar [appendages], which is why these creatures are sometimes called 'mantis shrimp," explained Caldwell.

Describing its features he said that the Stomatopods have distinct claws that they use to prey. The claws are different depending on the species. The one, the fisherman took pictures of is a species of Lysiosquilla. "Like other members of its species, the creature has three pairs of walking legs and a large, articulated abdomen," Caldwell said. Though the species can grow up to 12 inches, this particular specimen was not the largest. The largest stomatopod is about 15 inches long and is found in the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to east Africa. They have strips of yellow and black across their body and their life span is 30 years.

Though Caldwell said that the shrimp found was not the biggest, Bargeon stated that the mantis shrimp would have been about 18 inches long. He could not prove it since he did not have a measuring tape to actually measure it, but he was sure that the mantis shrimp was huge. Caldwell, however, said that it would be unlikely for the creature to be as large as Bargeon's description.

Caldwell has been studying stomatopods for 50 years and said that the reason for Borgeon to think it to be larger than it is, would be because of its clawsm, which make it look longer than it is. To measure a creature, its claws must be omitted only taking into account the measurement from the eye to the tail end.

According to the National Aquarium there are more than 400 species of mantis shrimp across the world. The mantis shrimp can also attack with a speed of a .22 caliber bullet, with enough force to crack glass.

Another notable fact is that this creature is rarely seen by fishermen because they live on the sea floors and do not come up often. It is an extremely rare sight. Caldwell said spotting one is a matter of luck. Female mantis shrimps don't come out from their burrows during their entire lifetime.

The photo of the stomatopod can be seen here.