Mantis shrimp (Squilla empusa)
Beachcombing often yields glimpses into ocean life, but rarely gives you the full picture. A washed up moon snail shell fails to show you the incredible span on the snail’s body when it’s alive. A gull feather is not only a poor substitute for the whole bird, but it is often difficult or impossible to decipher the species of gull from which it came. Similarly, finding the shell of a mantis shrimp’s tail hardly does justice to the living creature,…