Family get a fishy surprise

Feb 22 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

JENNY and Stu Mackenzie wanted to get their son a birthday present that packed a real punch, but a deadly sea creature that pulverises its prey wasn’t exactly what they had in mind.

But that’s what they got . . . a stowaway mantis shrimp that thumps its victims with a brutal blow equivalent to a .22 calibre bullet.

The couple, of North Shields, bought four-year-old Charlie a tropical fish tank for his birthday last December and made it look just like the aquarium in Finding Nemo with clown fish, regal tangs, butterflyfish and hermit crabs.

But the scene from the popular children’s film could have turned into a horror after they went to a pet shop two weeks ago, and bought some live rock, special rock from the Indonesian ocean that helps keep fish tanks healthy.

Jenny, an artist, said: “A few days after putting in the rock I noticed these eyes peeking out from it, on what looked like a periscope.

“We had a closer look and, after doing a search on the internet, realised it was a type of crustacean called a mantis shrimp.

“At first, we tried to remove it with a pair of tweezers but it kept attacking them . . . Charlie called it Diesel after the naughty train in Thomas the Tank Engine.”

The pair, both 28, called in experts from the Blue Reef Aquarium and the stowaway was caught and now lives in his own display at the Tynemouth attraction.

Chris Horn, displays supervisor at the Blue Reef Aquarium, said: “We can only assume it stowed away on the rockwork they bought and must have thought all its birthdays had come at once.