Snapping
shrimp produce a loud crackling noise so intense that
it disturbs underwater communication. It originates
from the violent collapse of a large cavitation
bubble generated under the tensile forces of a high-velocity
water jet formed each time a shrimp's snapper claw
snaps shut.
Here we report the experimental
observation of a short intense flash of light emitted
at bubble collapse. In light of the apparent
similarity with sonoluminescence, we term this
phenomenon shrimpoluminescence. The flash
duration is extremely short, shorter than 10 ns. The
total number of photons emitted from the hot bubble
interior amounts up to 5 × 104 photons,
which is typically one to two orders of magnitude
less than sonoluminescence from a single collapsing
bubble. Shrimpoluminescence can therefore not
be detected with the naked eye.
The light emission at bubble collapse
may not be of biological significance, but rather
represents a by-product of the bubble collapse, whose
shock wave is utilized to stun or even kill prey
animals. Nevertheless, the light emission highlights
the extreme conditions in the hot bubble interior at
collapse and therefore the violence of the event.
Read all about it in Nature
