15" long Mantis
- Thread starter Shenta
- Start date
j/k
Fcamdog
New member
Hello, I think I may have an answer for you. In the waters off Hawaii there is a mantis that reaches 14" in length and can get as wide as 4", Giant Mantis Shrimp, Lysiosquillina maculata. These have strikingly bold banded black and tan coloration and are known to reach 15 years of age. The book I am using is called Hawaii's Sea Creatures by John P. Hoover. Also, they are thought to be the biggest of all stomapods, which makes them a likely candidate for what you saw in Thailand.
What part of Thailand did you visit? In 1999 I was able to go to Phuket and spent a good deal of time around Patong Beach. Not too much of it was in the ocean though...
On another note, I am almost 100% sure that an uninvited Giant Mantis is in my 20g. He's a little guy, about 3/4" long living in a tiny hole inside of some rock. I've seen him about a dozen times now when I feed, snatching up live brine shrimp and darting back into his little hole. By his coloration and shape of his tail I am almost 100%, like I said before, that he is a Giant Mantis. Does anyone out there with an acrylic tank want a truly monster of a specimen? Send an email if your interested.
What part of Thailand did you visit? In 1999 I was able to go to Phuket and spent a good deal of time around Patong Beach. Not too much of it was in the ocean though...
On another note, I am almost 100% sure that an uninvited Giant Mantis is in my 20g. He's a little guy, about 3/4" long living in a tiny hole inside of some rock. I've seen him about a dozen times now when I feed, snatching up live brine shrimp and darting back into his little hole. By his coloration and shape of his tail I am almost 100%, like I said before, that he is a Giant Mantis. Does anyone out there with an acrylic tank want a truly monster of a specimen? Send an email if your interested.
Fcamdog & gregt, thank you for your reply, I am quite sure what I saw was not a Mantizilla, cause I have already seen the Mantizilla during it's attack on Yokohama bay back in the 70's, it is about 1000 feet tall and 8000 feet long, what I seen is some thing MUCH smaller than that, just 15". I have enclosed some photos for your reference, I found them in Kosamui Island, which is on the other side of Thailand (Thailand have 2 coast, 1 face India sea, another on is Golf of Thailand.) Golf of Thailand is made out of deep sea mud and sand which is the best & most sutable living inviroment for the Mantis. As for Puket, Na... to much corel reef, not enough sand on the ocean bottom floor.
Local Fisher man have told me that sometimes they may also caught Mantis this size in Purple / red color. I know.... GEEEE
Local Fisher man have told me that sometimes they may also caught Mantis this size in Purple / red color. I know.... GEEEE
they are spearers dud, with claw about 2" long, I didn't know that they were THAT dangerous during my visit, just if I know how aggressive they are, I wouldn't dare to touch them. Local PPL eat them as a EXPANSIVE dish, the price is around $10 each or one LB... I have looked up for some info on this type of Mantis, GIANT MANTIS is not the name for it for sure, cause the biggest ever found was only 14" and there's like 15 of them in that tank (in the photo) all of them is around 14"~16" long, and they don't have any vivid color, local PPL told me that the biggest they have see is as big as a BIG lobster, around 20" and 4" wide. Can anyone help, please?
biomekanic
New member
Yowsa!
Yowsa!
:eek1:
Has anyone sent this on to Dr. Caldwell?
For that matter, has anyone ever invited him here?
Yowsa!
:eek1:
Has anyone sent this on to Dr. Caldwell?
For that matter, has anyone ever invited him here?
i also think roy would like that big fello!
i have chatted with him for some time now but i have never mentioned this site to him? maybe we should so we can get some expert advice?
hey shenta.
do a search for dr roy caldwell and send that image to him. he might be able to tell you what species it is as he has been keeping and studying mantis and octapus for 30 years or so at berkeley university.
cant remember his email address of the top off my head?
i have chatted with him for some time now but i have never mentioned this site to him? maybe we should so we can get some expert advice?
hey shenta.
do a search for dr roy caldwell and send that image to him. he might be able to tell you what species it is as he has been keeping and studying mantis and octapus for 30 years or so at berkeley university.
cant remember his email address of the top off my head?
biomekanic
New member
Dr. Caldwell's email
Dr. Caldwell's email
Roy Caldwell, 4roy@socrates.Berkeley.EDU
I think it would be great if we could get him onboard as an advisor, that would rock!
I've been talking to him about getting a mantis from the Gulf and he's given me some great advise, and sent pictures so I can try and talk them into getting me the mantis I want.
But, and it's a big one, he is a very busy person and may not have time. But, there's no harm in asking either.
Dr. Caldwell's email
Roy Caldwell, 4roy@socrates.Berkeley.EDU
I think it would be great if we could get him onboard as an advisor, that would rock!
I've been talking to him about getting a mantis from the Gulf and he's given me some great advise, and sent pictures so I can try and talk them into getting me the mantis I want.
But, and it's a big one, he is a very busy person and may not have time. But, there's no harm in asking either.
Thanks to all for your reply, I have already send an e-mail to Roy and asked him to come here and help us in identify this BABY MANTIZILLA, and in the mean time, I have browse through thousand of web pages in English, Japanese, and Chinese. The only picture I found was taken by a Japanese during his visit to Vietnam few years ago. The manits in the photo is some what darker than the mantis I saw. For your reference guys.
On another note, I am an 3D artist, and I am trying to build a 3D Mantis model right now, and I have a very hard time try to IMAGINE the head part of MANTY over my head, can you guys please send me some close up on their HEAD to shenta@hotmail.com... Thanks to all again.
On another note, I am an 3D artist, and I am trying to build a 3D Mantis model right now, and I have a very hard time try to IMAGINE the head part of MANTY over my head, can you guys please send me some close up on their HEAD to shenta@hotmail.com... Thanks to all again.
Thanks again everyone for your reply. This is the reply I got from Roy, without further evidence to prove it is something else, I think he is quite right, this is probably a H. harpax, we now got a REAL pro here, we should all feel luck and give him a worm welcome.
But I still have some questions for this species, how fast is the grow rate, what kinna of enviroment they prefer (U turnnel or corel cave) can they be raised in little container like 30g of aqua?
...?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shenta,
Hapriosquilla annandalei and H. melanoura have a dramatic pair of
spots on the telson. H. harpax has a greenish median carina, but no
real spots. Also, if I remember correctly (its been 27 years since I
worked in Thailand and collected this species), the meral spots are
greenish. The other clear give away that you are dealing with a
Harpiosquilla are the erect spines on the leading edge of the
raptorial propodus.
Roy
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am still waiting for those picture of YOUR mantis... Please help me people, I really need some close up photograph of your Mantis as reference for my 3D model. Thanks again in advance.
But I still have some questions for this species, how fast is the grow rate, what kinna of enviroment they prefer (U turnnel or corel cave) can they be raised in little container like 30g of aqua?
...?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shenta,
Hapriosquilla annandalei and H. melanoura have a dramatic pair of
spots on the telson. H. harpax has a greenish median carina, but no
real spots. Also, if I remember correctly (its been 27 years since I
worked in Thailand and collected this species), the meral spots are
greenish. The other clear give away that you are dealing with a
Harpiosquilla are the erect spines on the leading edge of the
raptorial propodus.
Roy
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am still waiting for those picture of YOUR mantis... Please help me people, I really need some close up photograph of your Mantis as reference for my 3D model. Thanks again in advance.
Fish_and_XR
New member
pretty common and cheap in hongkong.. eaten deepfried... called ' lai liu har ' in cantonese.. or a literal translation.. p*ssing shrimp.
got chow
New member
Fish and XR,
Are you serious?!?!?! I could swear that when I lived in Hong Kong that my parents ate "Lai liu hah" every once in a while. I had no clue they were actually mantis shrimps!!! Damn, if I had known sooner... lol
I think that they'd wanna come over to my place now and slice and dice my two peacocks up now that they know I'm raising "lai liu hah"!
Are you serious?!?!?! I could swear that when I lived in Hong Kong that my parents ate "Lai liu hah" every once in a while. I had no clue they were actually mantis shrimps!!! Damn, if I had known sooner... lol
I think that they'd wanna come over to my place now and slice and dice my two peacocks up now that they know I'm raising "lai liu hah"!
Fish_and_XR
New member
yeah.. im very very serious... ahhaa... anyway.. i have one of those in my tank now.. caught it at the beach.. by the way.. i live in singapore.. haha
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