Question for Gonodactylus

[James0_85]

Hi,
I caught what i think is a Lysiosquilla osculans or vercoi going by a book "The Crustaceans of South Australia" he has been living in a small tank for about 3 weeks now and has dug a burrow with about 5 different entrences/exits and the main one he uses is right next to the glass wich is good because i can usually see him, the book shows some nice sized Squilla, do you have any idea how i would go about catching some of them? would they live below the low tide mark, what would their burrows look like...
any info would greatly help my search for them ;)

Cheers
James

[Gonodactylus]

James,

I just responded to you on another thread, but I may have been confused. I though you said that you caught the L. osculans on the York Peninsula. In fact, this species now belongs in the genus Austrosquilla and none of them can be found in the north. However, there are four or five in the south.

As for squillids, most live in mud rather than the sand that you most commonly find lysiosquilloids in. At extreme low tide if you walk a mudflat, you can look for perfectly round holes about 1-4 cm in diameter. Most squillids dig a u-shaped burrow that has its entrances 20 to 100 cm apart (depending on the size of the animal). THe burrow usually isn't more than 20 cm deep. As you walk on the flat, if you step on the burrow, it will often cause a bit of water to be forced out of the entrance. At that point I usually push down on one entrance and look for water being force out the other. If I can identify the two openings, I then stick my finger in one end and force my hand through the burrow following the tube with my finger until the animal pops out the other end. Don;t worry, they almost never strike when you are doing this. An alternative is to use a yabby (spelling?) pump and suck them out.

Roy

[James0_85]

hi, ill take some photos of my mantis so u can see if u can id it ;),
thanx for the info on squillids ;) ill try to catch some when i get some time, i was reading your post about getting speared in the finger by an O.s :eek:, i got speard by my mantis but hardly felt a thing being thats its only 1"-1 1/2" long

James