before we no longer have to import tropical fish and invertebrates,
it appears that the mantis shrimp, the bain of tropical invertebrate keepers is alive and well in Dungeness in Kent, it appears that three have been netted off the coast, naturally causing fear and panic to the ill informed, nicknamed the toe-splitter thanks to its ability to deliver a nasty blow to anyone who gets too close,
the mantis shrimp is usually found in tropical waters, but unless badly handled it is not likely to break a finger or toe, just another urban myth, but if you keep invertebrates and one of these is brought into you aquarium by mistake hidden in a piece of coral what a pain, they are the devil to catch! the first thing you notice is fish going missing then attacks on shellfish and crabs, now here is a laugh, the shrimps, are being housed in a reinforced tank at the Blue Reef aquarium in Hastings, East Sussex, reinforced tank? in all of the years I had in the aquatic trade and contacts I have made there I could not find one true account of a shrimp smashing a glass aquarium, I will have to troll the web later to see if it ever really has happened,
this is one of the mantis shrimps out here, about a foot long, native to Thailand one of the 400 or so species in the genus, pictured at Prechai Seafood restaurant, again I have not found a single incidence of a swimmer putting his or her toe into a shrimp hole and getting a broken toe!
and how we normally see them!
I must admit I have eaten them but were not as nice as the normal shrimps we are used to, but the girls loved them! 
did I mention that at Dungerness there is a nuclear power station that discharges warm water into the English channel? it makes for all types of exotic sea life to make homes there, if you read the original story no mention is made of this fact, I guess that is why so many of them survive there.
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