Pic of my new mantis:)

[Fishy1]

Here he is.......anyone know what kind it is?

 

[dc]

I think they need close up pictures of the front of them for a ID. Hope you enjoy him. They are such fascinating creatures.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Assuming that it is from the Carribean, it is either Neogonodactylus wennerae or N. bredini. Given that N. bredini rarely show up in live rock because they only occure shallow, it is probably N. wennerae. It will live to a maximum age of 5-6 years and reach about 6-7 cm total length. This species will frequently change color in an aquarium, so don't be surprised if it turns a lighter green.

Roy

 

[Fishy1]

Thanks Debi and Roy for your replies......I think they are so neat! I hope he lives to a ripe old age

Janey

 

[kalim]

id

id

just curious, but any idea what color the meral spot is? i'm wondering what characteristics the doc used to get an id...

many mantis shrimp seem to have very similar characteristics or at least they look that way from just looking at pics.

 

[Gonodactylus]

I was going by the shape of the telson. This animal has two fairly blunt, pronounced submedian teeth. The next pair are reduced. There are only two Caribbean species that have this characteristic, N. bredini and N. wennerae. Both have a white meral spot. They are extremely difficult to tell apart, the key character being the relative length of the rostral spine.

Roy

 

[Fishy1]

I tried to send another pic, but it wouldn't go through. I think it shows the head area better. If you email me at live.forhim@mchsi.com I'll send it to you so you can see. Maybe you can tell more about the meril spots

Janey

 

[kalim]

hapto

hapto

good info....i was actually thinking the dorsal surface looked like something from haptosquilla, because of those same two large solid-looking ridges, and the fact i could not see anything flanking them (but, since the image was too small, was witholding any guesses)...

to be honest, the haptosquilla in the pic below does not seem to have a similar telson to the haptosquilla images i have from your naturwissenschaften article (or maybe it was the scientific american)

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/robz_haptosquilla.htm

 

[Fishy1]

He came out tonight.....spots are white

Janey

 

[kalim]

same mantis?

same mantis?

fishy1:

is this the same critter as your other thread? because that pic showed a mantis shrimp with dark meral spot (surrounded by a white ring)...

 

[kalim]

same mantis?

same mantis?

fishy1:

is this the same critter as your other thread? because that pic showed a mantis shrimp with dark meral spot (surrounded by a white ring)...

 

[Fishy1]

The other thread is a pic of my daughter's mantis Pretty isn't he?

 

[kalim]

mother-daughter mantis tag team - LOL.

 

[Fishy1]

LOL!!! It is nice having a daughter to share the hobby with My hubby likes to look at my reef and helps with the water changes and that's about it......Jill's hubby is the same way! I'm looking for a peacock mantis next to put in my 6 gallon Eclipse......a small one that is.....pretty scarce around here

Janey