Turn your speakers up!  Can you name that noise??
Fun Facts

    Name that sound.wma

    What you are hearing is a sound similar to what Alpheus randalli makes.  As you can hear it is definitely not a quiet creature at all! 

• When listening to the noise of the Pistol Shrimp, the snapping sound is similar to burning a bunch of dry sticks or frying fat. (Johnson, et. al. 1947)
  
  
• The first Alpheus randalli was collected with a Hawaiian spear, which distorted the anterior part of the body for observation (Banner and Banner 1980).
  
  
• The Pistol Shrimp was featured as the number one loudmouth on Animal Planet's show, The Most Extreme.  Click here to see the clip!
  
  
• The species of goby that Alpheus randalli, Amblyeleotris sp., was first discovered living with was also a newly discovered species (Banner and Banner 1980).

• Snapping sounds from the shrimp increase for a short time just after sunset and just before sunrise (Johnson, et al. 1947).
  
  
• The force of the snap of the claw is powerful enough to kill small organisms like small fish, crabs and shrimp, at close range (Masterson 2008).
  
  
• Color is an important element to consider when identifying species in the Alpheus genus (Spence and Knowlton 2008).
  
  
• It is believed that the orbital hoods that protect the eyes from combat evolved before the snapping claws in the Alpheidae family (Anker 2006).
  
  
• Scientists often use paint brushes to tickle the shrimp to trigger the snap (BBC News 2000).
   

   Time to move on to the References page and see where I found all this fantastic information!