Giant Shrimp Captured: 18-Inch Mantis Shrimp Caught In Florida, How Did The Fisherman Catch It? [VIDEO]

Giant shrimp captured by a fisherman named Steve Bargeron in Fort Pierce, Fla. is currently making the headlines after Bargeron shared the pictures with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. According to the website Laughing Squid, after Bargeron shared to them his discovery, the FWS posted photos of the giant shrimp captured to its Facebook page.

Bargeron tweeted the Commission claiming that the 18-inch long giant shrimp captured is a mantis shrimp.

Since the FWS posted photos of the creature on their Facebook page for all to view, the photo of the giant shrimp captured has already garnered over 13,000 shares and 7,000 likes of the crustacean, reports eCanadaNow.

The giant crustacean was reportedly caught by Bargeron during a night time fishing expedition on a dock. Bargeron said he pulled the giant shrimp captured in by grabbing it through back, just like how one would capture and pull in an ordinary lobster.

According to the website Sploid, scientists described the giant shrimp captured as somewhat resembling a rare kind of Mantis Shrimp. However, because it's 18 inches in length, it is considerably larger than average, hence they could not give a definite identification.

The giant shrimp captured was reported to be as long as a fisherman's arm. While a typical mantis grows about two to seven inches long, remarkably huge ones were known to have measured 12 to 15 inches long.

Meanwhile, according to Sploid, scientists say they still need to conduct further analysis before determining what the creature really was. Photos will still be undergoing review to fully identify the giant shrimp captured.

But if the giant shrimp captured is indeed a stomatopod, or what they call a mantis shrimp, then it is a deadly ocean predator which can strike its prey at an estimated 50 mph, and with the force of a .22 caliber weapon, according to the Baltimore National Aquarium.

Accuweather reports that many aquariums try not to house mantis shrimps because of this fact.

Of note, the USA Today has reported several occasions wherein a mantis shrimp has broken the glass it was housed in using their claws. They really have been known to shatter glass with their claws, and the same goes for creatures put with them inside the tanks.

Mantis shrimps can also injure humans by gashing skin or breaking bones, since its speed and force has can produce shockwaves and boil water around it.

There are around 400 species of mantis shrimp currently described worldwide, according to Sploid. They can reportedly be found in several major oceans and across all continents except Antarctica.

In the United States, mantis shrimps are found in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Hawaii, with four different species thriving off the coast of Southern California, according to AccuWeather.

Giant shrimp captured, if indeed it is a mantis shrimp, could be dangerous if put inside an aquarium, especially since the creatures have made headlines earlier this year when two terrorized the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. The giant shrimp captured may need to be set free into the wild once again, if it is still alive, since in the first place they do not belong in tanks.

Below is a video of a Mantis Shrimp in action.