Inertial bubble collapse near a mantis shrimp telson

Mantis shrimp, a marine crustacean, are known for their ability to produce high-energy impacts and cavitation events with their lightweight striking appendages, stunning and potentially killing prey. Many species of mantis shrimp also deliver impacts to competitors during combat over resources; these impacts are received on their protective tailplate, or telson, which tends to have pronounced ridges alternating with depressions. The objective of this work is to understand whether fighting species have evolved more cavitation-resistant telsons. Previous finite element studies found corrugations in the telson’s morphology lead to a higher bulk stiffness under static loads. Here, we focus on the dynamic interaction of a telson with a collapsing bubble to model the loads present during mantis shrimp fighting. We hypothesize that ridges stiffen the telson and direct energy from the impact away from the shrimp. The insights may also inform how certain geometric structures can shield against underwater explosions. We numerically simulate an inertial bubble collapse near a mantis shrimp telson and quantify the impact load (pressure and temperature) shielding of the telson undulating geometry. We solve the compressible Navier-Stokes equations using the Multi-Component Flow Code (Wilfong et al. 2025), an open-source Eulerian solver with a six-equation multiphase model. Telson geometries from CT scans of combative and passive species are simulated using an immersed boundary method. We compare bubble collapse times, morphologies, and maximum surface pressures on the telson surface with a baseline flat surface.