Is this a Snapping Shrimp?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Giffenk, I could be wrong, my understanding is that mantis shrimp don't have pinching claw like crabs and lobsters and other shrimp; but instead have either clubs they swing really quick (called smashers) or have spears they stab prey with (called spearers).

Thats why I ruled out mantis shrimps, and my reef creatures book says snapping shrimp have asymetrical claws. So now I'm at a loss.
Theyre fairly common in the keys, I see a few holes each dive. Next time I will observe the hole more closely.
 
Its a Shrimp Lobster not a mantis
Seriously?

Ok, thanks for the info.



Why did "shrimp lobster" just make me hungry?
 
Its a Shrimp Lobster not a mantis
Hi sully3 - Can you provide some reference links?
my goto book is Reef Creatures (which has tons of stuff I have never seen) but has no entry for shrimp lobster. So this is a new creature for me. My google attempts all turn up really cheesy frozen seafood restaurants. Reef creatures does have a squat lobster (which looks like an angry crab to me...)

My other background knowledge rules out snapping (pistol) shrimp as they live with anenomes.

I have seen the round holes many times in the caribbean and sometimes have seen a creature at the top. Based upon reef creatures we always claimed this to be a mantis based upon its eyes. I have never seen its claws as they are folded back into the hole. The reef creatures does not provide an adequate shot of the claws. I have never got a good shot of the claws either, just the eyes.

Maybe this is just a regional naming issue? (those nasty Europeans like to call coral shrimp "boxer shrimp")
 
The OP's critter looks like a Thalassinidean shrimp (based on a google image search).

giffenks' images do look like a species of mantis shrimp to me, the eyes are particularly distinctive
 
I stick with my Mantis Shrimp id. if you have "seen the claws" then I claim you have been lucky enough to see this nasty little critter ready to strike. I have a bunch of (very badly white balanced) shots from our recent trip to Belize that I claim are Mantis Shrimp.

But I could be wrong, would not be the first time today...

View attachment 158539View attachment 158540View attachment 158541View attachment 158542View attachment 158543
I base my id on the very distinctive oblong "dual" eyes of this creature. The Reef Creature book refers to them as "thumb splitters" so I assume they do have a very dangerous claw of some sort. I have never seen it. My pics above depict the typical pose I have seen.

I still stay away.
I think those pictures show a different creature than your previous shots. I believe that is a Reef Mantis Shrimp, which is a spearing Mantis Shrimp. But the critter in our first picture had claws. (this is the first time I had a chance to see the pictures on a computer). Good pictures, too, by the way!

I think the eyes on our first critter are the dark spots on the head. You're right about the double lobed eyes on a stalk for the Mantis Shrimp in your other picture.

The OP's critter looks like a Thalassinidean shrimp (based on a google image search).
I think we have a winner! I don't know a common name, but if Budget Travel is to be believed, my critter is a shrimp in the Thalassinidean family.

Thalassinidean Shrimp - My Budget Travel Photo

---------- Post added July 13th, 2013 at 06:13 PM ----------

And some new info. I don't have a common name, but I think DanMont nailed it. Here's a scientific paper from 1988 about a critter that looks just like our's and has claws like it:

decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/18128/18128.pdf

I like the opening line;

"The second author discovered the species described here while conducting a sabbatical research project...off Key Largo, Florida"

I wish my job gave me sabbaticals off Key Largo, Florida... :)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom