How do I get an Odontodactylus japonicus?

[Mr. Manty]

I never see them for sale. Is there anyone I could contact?

[Calappidae]

Used to be someone who sold mantis shrimp exclusively but he closed shop, O. Japonicus wasn't hard to find with him. No where commercially that sells or actively collects O. Japonicus at the moment. Its one of those special things you'd have to really go out and contact collectors for. Never even seen one in a WYSIWYG type market.

Best of luck

[Gonodactylus]

O. japonicus is widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific. Most of the animals that I've received came from Sri Lanka and New South Whales. Unfortunately, the live fairly deep (> 40 m) in open habitats that are usually not collected for the aquarium trade. They are also incredibly fast making them hard to catch. The do show up from time to time in shrimp trawls.

I've noticed that over the past few years unusual stomatopods are less frequently available from suppliers. My guess is that is because of a shift in the industry away from collecting exotic species such as stomatopods an more towards corals and other sessile invertebrates.

Roy