arms broke on my peacock

[sctat2]

I have a large peacock manits shrimp...we have had her almost a year..he has molted 3 times...this last time his smasher arms have come off from the "elbow"...I do not remeber this happening the last time....First his left ..now his right is dangling...he molted about 4 days ago....This was the first time my wife took the "shell " out...him not having that to eat...is that what caused this.... I read somewhere that he will eventually grow more but it will take time.....is this true???? I am extremely worried.... I have never seen him(actually it is a girl..named Stella)without his smashers...no more crabs for awhile i guess...

with the last statement about crabs...I have not fed her crabs for a month..i knew she was preparing to molt when she rebuilt her house...so I do not know if she struck something and broke her arm....I mean they are gone...the lft hung for a day or two and she finally got it loodse..not her right is doing the same!!!!!

[Gonodactylus]

We really don't know what factors are responsible for raptorial loss. We do know that extreme stress such as low oxygen, hot or cold temperature and major shifts in pH can damage the muscles that power the strike. Also, mechanical damage caused by hitting a hard object can occur. What ever the reason for the damage, stomatopods cannot autotomize their raptorial appendages the way a lobster or crab can, but to repair the appendage, it has to come off. Stomatopod do this by force, grasping the appendage with the other maxillipeds and twisting until it breaks free. Or during a molt, they can just pull off the soft appendage.

It takes three or four molts, but the appendages will regenerate. This actually happens sooner if both rapts are lost and just one. With one, the animal can still feed and defend itself effectively. There is no need to under go the rigors of molting sooner than necessary. With both appendages gone, the animal in the field had no choice but to put everything it has into regrowing them. Without raptorial appendages, it probably will not survive for long. The resorb their gonads, use all of their fat reserves, etc. to molt as soon as possible.

It is uncommon to find animals in the field regrowing both appendages, but I have seen it. Once in Panama following a very low reef flat exposure and very intense sun, the little water remaining on the reef heated up to near 40 degrees. About a quarter of the N. bredini and N. oerstedii lost both of their raptorial appendages. I was able to follow the population for severa months and some successfully regrew them.

ROy

[Thurge]

With both appendages gone, the animal in the field had no choice but to put everything it has into regrowing them.
ROy

Dr.Roy, what drives this? I know or at least I would assume, it's not actually a choice.

[Gonodactylus]

No, it is not choice. Sorry, I was just using shorthand for selection. I don't know the exact mechanism. We did a number of experiments removing other legs and maxillipeds. The amount of damage seems important, but also the loss of the rapts have a larger effect than the loss of other appendages.

Roy

[sctat2]

Thank you so much for the answer...we were so worried it was something we did...we have two mantis...one peacock...and the other is a smaller one from the china sea...seperate tanks.....the smaller one(ternatensis) is a real rock dweller where the peacock is half sand half whatever is available to build with...

she tore the left raptorial off and within a day or two the right...we watched her do it in horror...


I appreciate the answer as you make it sound like justpart of it all.....I will keep you updated......