Roy’s List of Stomatopods for the Aquarium.

[ritter6788]

Can’t have a mantis shrimp forum without this posted here. This is the go to for mantis information and identification.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

 

[ScottR]

Can’t have a mantis shrimp forum without this posted here. This is the go to for mantis information and identification.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

I just want to put this here, I moved to Hong Kong and my wife’s mum made mantis shrimp for dinner and I had never ever seen or heard of them before (this was years ago). I didn’t care for the taste but basically every seafood restaurant has a tank with tons of these in them. The Chinese name is “lai niu ha” which literally means “peeing shrimp”. I guess because they squirt water when taken out of the tank.

 

[SamKnaphus]

Can’t have a mantis shrimp forum without this posted here. This is the go to for mantis information and identification.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

I am beginning to fall down the rabbit hole concerning mantis shrimp….
This is a great resource, but I was wondering if since this was posted there have been any changes on what people see in the industry? Don’t think I’ll ever purchase one myself, or at least not for a long time, but I am certainly interested now

 

[Stomatopods17]

If anything we see less in the industry. That list was created around the time Stomatopods.com used to be a resource for finding some of the exotic ones, and when there were more open collection sites (now there's restrictions in various places like hawaii, australia, and california). Most sites do not get them in commercially anymore or mix up the IDs.

Realistically the only species you'll find in the hobby by searching/waiting;

- O. scyllarus (True peacock)
- O. Havanensis (very rare, occasionally I'll see a florida supplier like KPAquatics sell them)
- G. Ternatensis (often sold under the 'peacock' umbrella name, has concerning reef conservation details. Situation has gotten so bad you're actually more likely to just get one instead of a Peacock when you order from any site only showing a stock photo.)
- G. Chiragra (often also sold and misidentified as a peacock)
- G. Smithii (great mantis sold as "Purple spot", not sure where to specifically order one but you occasionally see them in WYSIWYG listings and some wholesalers offer them to LFS.)
- G. Viridis (often sold as "lime green" mantis, from numerous wholesalers)
- G. Glabrous (rarer than some of the others)
- G. Graphurus (exclusively common in australia, pretty sure restrictions make it hard to import any to the US.)
- N. Wennerae (very common, especially as hitchhikers from florida)
- N. Oerstedii (less common than N. wennerae but same sources)
- N. Curacaoensis (same as N. Oerstedii, little more frequently sold as its easier to ID)
- L. Maculata (Zebra mantis I rarely see some suppliers offer, mine unironically came from ebay.)
- P. Ciliata (common with florida suppliers, I used to see them more commonly available)
- Squilla Empusa and Rugosa (You have to have an eye to tell the two apart, but I've seen both available recently. One is near impossible to keep in captivity while the other is easier and fairly active for a spearer.)

Anything else shows up just by sheer random luck or mixup. You're unlikely to see the other Odontodactylids (I'll be the first to swipe O. japonicus if that ever hit the market), Raoulserena species do show up occasionally but often are from a miss-id, hard to expect to find one if it isn't a lucky WYSIWYG. Recently on MorphMarket there actually were Acanthosquilla Derijardi, a very rare hatchet species but it was from a canadian source, and so sadly not US available.

 

[SamKnaphus]

If anything we see less in the industry. That list was created around the time Stomatopods.com used to be a resource for finding some of the exotic ones, and when there were more open collection sites (now there's restrictions in various places like hawaii, australia, and california). Most sites do not get them in commercially anymore or mix up the IDs.

Realistically the only species you'll find in the hobby by searching/waiting;

- O. scyllarus (True peacock)
- O. Havanensis (very rare, occasionally I'll see a florida supplier like KPAquatics sell them)
- G. Ternatensis (often sold under the 'peacock' umbrella name, has concerning reef conservation details. Situation has gotten so bad you're actually more likely to just get one instead of a Peacock when you order from any site only showing a stock photo.)
- G. Chiragra (often also sold and misidentified as a peacock)
- G. Smithii (great mantis sold as "Purple spot", not sure where to specifically order one but you occasionally see them in WYSIWYG listings and some wholesalers offer them to LFS.)
- G. Viridis (often sold as "lime green" mantis, from numerous wholesalers)
- G. Glabrous (rarer than some of the others)
- G. Graphurus (exclusively common in australia, pretty sure restrictions make it hard to import any to the US.)
- N. Wennerae (very common, especially as hitchhikers from florida)
- N. Oerstedii (less common than N. wennerae but same sources)
- N. Curacaoensis (same as N. Oerstedii, little more frequently sold as its easier to ID)
- L. Maculata (Zebra mantis I rarely see some suppliers offer, mine unironically came from ebay.)
- P. Ciliata (common with florida suppliers, I used to see them more commonly available)
- Squilla Empusa and Rugosa (You have to have an eye to tell the two apart, but I've seen both available recently. One is near impossible to keep in captivity while the other is easier and fairly active for a spearer.)

Anything else shows up just by sheer random luck or mixup. You're unlikely to see the other Odontodactylids (I'll be the first to swipe O. japonicus if that ever hit the market), Raoulserena species do show up occasionally but often are from a miss-id, hard to expect to find one if it isn't a lucky WYSIWYG. Recently on MorphMarket there actually were Acanthosquilla Derijardi, a very rare hatchet species but it was from a canadian source, and so sadly not US available.

Thanks! A lot of helpful info! I was pretty curious about the zebra ones so it was fun to hear yours came from eBay lol. If I ever see a listing for an O. Japonicus I will make sure to let you know haha. Never heard of hatchet mantis shrimp though. Looks like I have homework

 

[SamKnaphus]

If anything we see less in the industry. That list was created around the time Stomatopods.com used to be a resource for finding some of the exotic ones, and when there were more open collection sites (now there's restrictions in various places like hawaii, australia, and california). Most sites do not get them in commercially anymore or mix up the IDs.

Realistically the only species you'll find in the hobby by searching/waiting;

- O. scyllarus (True peacock)
- O. Havanensis (very rare, occasionally I'll see a florida supplier like KPAquatics sell them)
- G. Ternatensis (often sold under the 'peacock' umbrella name, has concerning reef conservation details. Situation has gotten so bad you're actually more likely to just get one instead of a Peacock when you order from any site only showing a stock photo.)
- G. Chiragra (often also sold and misidentified as a peacock)
- G. Smithii (great mantis sold as "Purple spot", not sure where to specifically order one but you occasionally see them in WYSIWYG listings and some wholesalers offer them to LFS.)
- G. Viridis (often sold as "lime green" mantis, from numerous wholesalers)
- G. Glabrous (rarer than some of the others)
- G. Graphurus (exclusively common in australia, pretty sure restrictions make it hard to import any to the US.)
- N. Wennerae (very common, especially as hitchhikers from florida)
- N. Oerstedii (less common than N. wennerae but same sources)
- N. Curacaoensis (same as N. Oerstedii, little more frequently sold as its easier to ID)
- L. Maculata (Zebra mantis I rarely see some suppliers offer, mine unironically came from ebay.)
- P. Ciliata (common with florida suppliers, I used to see them more commonly available)
- Squilla Empusa and Rugosa (You have to have an eye to tell the two apart, but I've seen both available recently. One is near impossible to keep in captivity while the other is easier and fairly active for a spearer.)

Anything else shows up just by sheer random luck or mixup. You're unlikely to see the other Odontodactylids (I'll be the first to swipe O. japonicus if that ever hit the market), Raoulserena species do show up occasionally but often are from a miss-id, hard to expect to find one if it isn't a lucky WYSIWYG. Recently on MorphMarket there actually were Acanthosquilla Derijardi, a very rare hatchet species but it was from a canadian source, and so sadly not US available.

Just from some surface level info from like a decade ago at this link I found some pretty cool stuff on hatchet dactyls. There was a nice illustration I found on google as well attached.

Functional type "Hatchet?" - Reef Central Online Community

Functional type "Hatchet?" Mantis Shrimp

www.reefcentral.com