15" long Mantis

[Genghis-Khan]

http://www.divegallery.com/
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/care/maintain.htm
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/aquaria.htm
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/logs.htm
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/ajones_odsc.htm (great frontal head shot)
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/eyes.htm (eyes close up)
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/gawura_backside.htm
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/grendel2.htm
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/odhavrc.htm
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/film.htm

Hope this links give you some help with your 3-D work. Just be sure to show us all, bet it'll look fabulous!

The more I read about those fascinating animals the more I am considering keeping one or two in separate tanks just for them.

 

[Fish_and_XR]

im surprised you touched it. i read that some dude went scuba diving and reached out to touch a mantis and it punched his finger so hard he had to amputate it.

ah... i din think so much.. thankful it did not slash my hand..

 

[lil_aqua]

FREAKY !!
what good are those to have in your home aquarium?
They also look (no offense to likers) nasty !!!
I would be afraid to pick one up for sure!!!
I once thought I had accidentally gotten a very very small mantis shrimp in a rock and saw this mantis forum and thought of that so I came here to see what they looked like to compare....

 

[Fish_and_XR]

we keep them because they are nasty.?

 

[Paul B]

I sometimes collect large mantis locally in New York while SCUBA diving at night. I know a place that is loaded with them. They are about 9" long and I usually find them in pairs. I kept one for about a year. Real interesting. I would catch them with my hand with a SCUBA glove on. I did not get any cuts or have my hand amputated or anything. They live in holes in the mud that they dig.

 

[lil_aqua]

I wasn't meaning any offence to anyone, I am personally someone who doesn't really like 'leggy' bug looking things, like scorpions, spiders, shrimp type things.... they look neat interacting in their nature environment, but not in my hand!!!
;-)

 

[kalim]

lil_aqua:

yes, those spearers that are eaten in asia tend to be less colorful (and interesting behaviorally) than the smashers typically sold in shops.

i once had an Oratosquilla specimen, and it pretty much just lay there, a big grayish lump. i much rather prefer the smaller, but faster and more interesting smashers...they are heck more "cute" too.

 

[Fish_and_XR]

spearers usually are less colourful huh. i wonder why.

 

[kalim]

probably dr caldwell can clear it up, but i read once that the trend seems to be:

smashers tend to live in exposed coral and other environments, which are limited in number, whereas sprearers tend to live in the ground bottom burrows.

smashers tend to be more aggressive than spearers, mayhaps because their environment (limiting amounts of "home") encourages this trait.

perhaps for communication purposes, smashers tend to be somewhat more colorful, it looks like....compare smashers like Odontodactylus and Hemisquilla to Squilla or Oratosquilla, or Harpiosquilla. There are exceptions obviously, so i'm not so sure it's a real trend. Lysiosquilla maculata seems to be pretty colorful, as is Pseudosquilla ciliata.

again, it's probably not a real trend, just something i noticed looking at all the pics.

 

[lil_aqua]

so, a smasher eats by smashing things? corals open perhaps, or something? and a spearer hides in bottom sludge and waits to spear something coming by?

I thought a manis shrimp was small and would like leech onto a fish and then like shred it to eat it or somthing... this is interesting. thank you for teaching me something today

 

[kalim]

intro to stomatopods

intro to stomatopods

lil_aqua:

this link might give you more info:
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/

smashers tend to favor armored food such as crabs and clams, etc. spearers tend to favor softbodied food such as fish, squid, etc.