Hemisquilla australiensis

[Kharn]

G'day all :wavehand:

This evening whilst browsing around the net I came across the closest thing to a H.australiensis that I have seen to date and although its not a photograph, I could use the illustration provided to fill in the 'color in life' information which I gained as well to sort of form what the animal may kind of look like with color.

"Colour in life may prove useful in separating the Australian and American hemisquillids, a view strongly supported here. Hemisquilla australiensis differs in colour in life from H. californiensis in having blue instead of bright yellow propodi of the raptorial claw, the uropodal endopod is blue-grey instead of yellow, and the body is generally darker."

This is the result (albeit very rough....)



There are certain areas of the animal that I could not provide color for since I do not actually know what the parts were on the animal or where they are on it. The Australian Hemisquillids in general do not sound to be as vibrantly colored as the American cousins and the Australian Hemisquillids have smaller eyes in comparison to the American species, it may also be that the Australian Hemisquillids do not get as big as the H.californiensis as I could not find any data on the vast amount of captures going beyond 175mm.

Again It's only a rough image...of the information that I could get.

I know it might not mean much on an American based forum but it something I have personally been trying to put together for a while now and constantly searching for a real life photograph to confirm. :sad1:

Nonetheless I won't give up not to mention this but I am also reading about some of them being captured in rather 'shallow' waters which is a good thing as far as acquiring one and maintaining one in an aquarium.

my basic rule of thumb is...(there are going to be obvious exceptions but there rare.)
"The closer a stomatopod is found to the shore, the easier and great chance of success in keeping it in an aquarium."

Anyway when I find out more on this promiscuous species, you shall know more too :lol:

 

[Kharn]

Although this is a 'dead thread' I thought I might bring it back up...

After searching for a long time...looking for something beyond accurate black and white sketches, beyond accurate color in life descriptions, I finally found a photo image of the elusive and interesting...

Hemisquilla australiensis!


Interesting to see the cousin of H.californiensis, our brethren seem to be somewhat more...'plain' in coloration along with being smaller in overall size, however recent knowledge has led me to believe that the H.australiensis is actual rather 'easy' to keep in aquariums (as opposed to H.californiensis) having said this one must still keep the tank at a consistent temperature of 20degrees C and one must also be able to collect creatures at depths of 150m to be able to get one.

To bad I had to delete my old colored in sketch of what I predicted H.australiensis to look like, through using an already made drawn sketch of H.aus along with accurate color descriptions through .PDF files detailing the areas on the animal, the name of said area, and the color that area had, if any as you can clearly see, from what I can recall my old colored image was fairly accurate for a guess /paint job.

Finally I can close the book on Hemisquilla australiensis now having ample information & photographic evidence of it. :lol2:

 

[Fretfreak13]

Very cool. =) I like the telson.

Always feels good to get something youve worked at for so long. Congrats on the pic!

 

[Kharn]

I was ecstatic to learn about this species from someone who has kept them before, to knowledge there no where near as difficult to keep in aquariums unlike H.cal, the only special requirements for H.aus are 15C-20C Temp & mud/sandy substrate, beyond that they are an 'easy' to keep species.

I'm looking at getting 2