Corpusfishing.com

[robul]

lol.. Try asking for mantis shrimp at the bait stand and see what kind of looks you get.. I best stock up on some them big ooogly sure love em.. I use em dead tho I dont want to get stabbed!

[o_brother]

Hey Topdog, isn't there a sub-species that has a spear instead of a claw? I watched all that on Discover as well..

Mike
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Come out of the grass with your fins up.......

[Capt Mike Singleterry]

Yea, I think so Mike. I thought I saw her hanging around Wal-Mart in the Bluff durning the Christmas Holidays.

Mike

[o_brother]

See, just goes to show you can find anything in the Bluff !!!!!!

LOL

Mike
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Come out of the grass with your fins up.......

[THE_BLUFF_RAT]

[Blast-n-Cast]

Well in the spirit of correction it would actually be a "necropsy report" since it was not performed on a human

[Big John]

The mantis shrimp has to be one of the most dreaded of all uninvited animals to discover in a reef tank. As soon as a clicking noise is heard the reef aquarist's heart jumps into their throat. "Is it a mantis shrimp? What am I going to do? How am I going to get it out of there before it eats all of my fish and shrimps?!" Mantis shrimp are also misunderstood, and not a lot of information is being circulated in the reef keeping hobby about them other than the fact they are undesirable in a mixed invertebrate and fish aquarium.

The common name of "mantis shrimp" comes from their habit of folding their large forelimbs under their heads, rather like a preying mantis. Commercial fisherman also label them, as "thumb splitters", as many have found this ability by getting too close to one or inadvertently picking one up.

Mantis shrimp are long, shrimp like crustaceans with sharp spines on the tail, two well developed eyes on short stalks, and long claws the fold neatly out of sight under the head. They feed on various fish and invertebrates, and are fast, very efficient predators. The long claw is sharp, strong and toothed, with the ability to be rapidly unfolded to impale their prey. They fit into the Crustacea phylum in the class Malacostraca, subclass Hoplocarida (which means 'armed shrimp') and order Stomatopoda. The stomatopods are divided into 15 families, 80 genera and over 400 species. Mantis shrimps are non-decapods and are only distant relatives of shrimps and lobsters, having split off the main crustacean line about 400 million years ago (Mather and Bennet, 1994). Within that time they have evolved into formidable, specialised and intelligent predators. Within the entire group of mantis shrimp there are two types of feeding and fighting appendages which divides the group into smashers and spearers.

The presence of a mantis shrimp is normally given away by a clicking noise, which can be very load and distinct. This is a result of the rock surface being pounded with their claws, in some cases to increase the size of their burrow within the rock. A similar noise can also be generated by pistol shrimp why make their noise by clicking their oversize claw. A distinction between the two can be made by the tendencies of pistol shrimp to only click in ones or twos, and mantis shrimp in multiple, rapid sets.

Some species take up residence in a permanent burrow that can also give them away, using a piece of rock to plug the entrance. They are also very hardy, managing to survive the extreme conditions of transportation, storage, fouling and cycling of live rock. It is lucky that usually only smaller specimens make it in with the rock as they tend to live in the rock and coral heads. The larger ones can be up to 36 centimetres in length, and tend to live in burrows and feed on passing fish.

The grouping of mantis shrimp into spearers and smashers is based on two variations in the predatory claws, which is the second appendage. The raptorial appendages are blade shaped, and either armed with spines which have barbs at the tips (the so called "spearers"), or unarmed but re-enforced with a heavy calcified and inflated heel (the "smashers"). The distributions of these two groupings within five super-families of stomatopods that exist are as follows (Ruppert and Barnes, 1994):

http://ozreef.org/library/articles/mantis_shrimp.html
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GOBZA!!!
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[Capt Mike Singleterry]

Thanks Big John....now without question I know that is what I saw in front of Wal-Mart.

Mike

[Big John]

[Flyfisher]

[topdog15]

[ironmanstan]

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I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[topdog15]

[Bluffer]

Ya them sea-lice will do that to!
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-STAY THIRSTY MY FRIENDS!-