How big does the average mantis shrimp get?

[prawngoby]

I ask because an employee of my LFS has had several ( some as pets, others as pests), has kept 4-8" mantis shrimps before. Is this posible?

[Easy Rawlins]

There is a place I fish in Port Canaveral and I have caught them at least 10 inches long while fishing for flounder.

[Gonodactylus]

It varies tremendously with the species.

Lysiosquilllina maculata - 40 cm

Hapriosquilla harpax - 40 cm

Bathysquilla - 35 cm

Hemisquilla californiensis - 32 cm

Gonodactylus chiragra - 10 cm

Gonodactylus smithiii - 9 cm

Pseudosquilla ciliata - 10 cm

Neogonodactylus wennerae - 8 cm

Neogonodactylus oerstedii - 7 cm

Pullosquilla litoralis - 1.8 cm

Taku - 1.5 cm

These are rough maximum estimates.

Roy