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Ultrafast organisms exemplify how biological systems manipulate and control energy to generate spectacularly diverse movements. Across the tree of life, repeateduse, ultrafastmovements are driven by springs and controlled by opposing, latch-like forces. We focus on the biomechanical processes that sequentially reduce the duration of each energetic event to yield intense mechanical power density - often external to the organism to reduce self-damage.We leverage a new model system of young, transparent mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) to quantify the timing and dynamics of muscle contraction, storage of elastic potential energy, latch engagement and release, and the levers and linkages that transform elastic potential to kinetic energy of their ultrafast strikes. We examine how the convergence of physical limits and inherent evolutionary integration of biomechanical structures yield generalizable features of energy storage and energy delivery, such that these mechanisms occur exclusively in small systems.While ultrafast organisms have historically been invisibly fast to science, today’s technology and new model systems have unveiled effective experimental approaches to quantifying energetic control and manipulation in these intriguing biomechanical systems.