Sexing Mantis Shrimp

[jjrock]

Darn it, I can't find the old post re: sexing mantis shrimp. I belive is was R. Caldwell (Gonodactylus I think was his handle) who put up some incredible photos and information about determining the sex of mantis shrimp.

I need this info badly, as I have too many Mantis Shrimp right now and I really need to sort the males from the females (i.e. I want to try and couple some up and guessing sexes will probably result in some unnnecessary deaths).

Please advise ...

JJ.

[brekurboy1]

Look on the inside of the third pair of walking legs. If there is a penis sticking out from where the legs stick out it's a boy :) So there are 2 penises in all. The females have gonopores about in the same spot and I hear they look kinda' like a figure eight even though I've never seen it for myself. A good pic of a male is here.

http://blueboard.rimlife.com/mantis/pics/isaari_hammers.htm

look near the bottom of the pic on the inside of the third pair of walking legs. Those are penises dude :P

[jjrock]

Thanks a lot ... interesting pic, but I still don't see the penis (and I remember seeing this photo before in the post that i mentioned).

The thing is, the post I'm looking for has this same picture that R. Caldwell acually put a red circle around the penis so I could clearly see it (which I presently cannot).

I'd love to find this original post ....

Thanks again.
JJ.

[Hwarang]

yep, arrows or circles would be helpful for the newbs (me!).

[jjrock]

Well I found it and *bumped" it back up. The diagrams with the circles are not present, but there are great photos and information on this thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49975&highlight=sex

Check it out ...

JJ.