Mantis Coloration

[Sharpie129]

So quite a few species have varying colors that seem to have a lot to do with the depth that they are living at. A wennerae, for example, is often a greener color in brighter/ shallower areas and mottled and redish in dark/deeper areas. Does this coloration have more to do with lighting intensity or the lighting spectrum? In other words would a wennerae in a 5 gal tank be a darker color with 10W instead of 20W or does it more have to do with spectrum where it would be darker under all actinics or a 2:1 ratio of actinics to daylight as opposed to a 50/50 setup? I'm asking because I like the darker coloration like the photos on Dr. Roy's list as opposed to the light almost lime green that they tend to get in aquariums...

 

[mattyice]

im guessing both, not as much light penetrates at lower depths plus the water is much more blue, since the blue spectrum is the deepest penetrating light

 

[Gonodactylus]

I've written several times about this on this site. Try searching my posts under "color". The quick answer is that it is both. In the field, the two go hand in hand. The deeper you go the lower the intensity and the narrower the spectrum centered around 472 nm. In tests that we have run in the lab, dim blue lighting is more likely to produce a reddish brown N. wennerae; bright white induces a shift to green. However, there is considerable genetic variation underlying this and the color of the substrate and the type of cavity also enter in.

Roy

 

[Sharpie129]

Sorry, I figured it had been said already elsewhere but for non premium members the search function almost never works. Does anyone have a link to a thread about wennerae coloration... would using something along the lines of black or grey sand work in this case? I know black sand tends to be a bit rough.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Try:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=387870&highlight=wennerae+color