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View Full Version : My Mantis. pics.. ID?

One_Divided
02/13/2002, 04:15 PM
I'm having trouble getting a certain ID on this guy.. He's clearly a spearer type of mantis. 4-5 inches long.. It shares a 10 gallon tank with a damsel which he doesn't seem to care about.

http://livevictoria.com/limestone/reef/mantis01.jpg

http://livevictoria.com/limestone/reef/mantis02.jpg

http://livevictoria.com/limestone/reef/mantis03.jpg

http://livevictoria.com/limestone/reef/mantis04.jpg
Gonodactylus
02/13/2002, 05:29 PM
The species is the spearer, Pseudosquilla ciliata. It is found in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific from French Polynesia and Hawaii to Africa and the Red Sea. It is not found on the West Coast of the Americas. Since it is green, this animal probably came from a sea-grass bed or an area with lots of green algae. In its current tank, after a molt or two, it will probably become a sandy mottled color. These animals burrow and are capable of moving lots of sand, usually fron under or along the side of a rock. They will take small fish occasionally, so I would keep it well fed if you don't want to lose the damsel.

Roy
Ananda
02/14/2002, 02:05 AM
Would adding a bunch of green macro-algae to the tank help it keep that color?
Gonodactylus
02/14/2002, 09:21 AM
Yes, it probably would. The color above them seems to be matched more than the color below.

Roy
One_Divided
02/14/2002, 01:54 PM
I was about to ask the same question.. thanks for the info!
Gonodactylus
02/14/2002, 02:06 PM
Of all the stomatopods I know, Pseudosquilla ciliata is the most variable with respect to color and has the greatest ability to change color to match background. It comes in brown, black, green, yellow, orange, cream and three basic color pattersn, solid, mottled, and longitudinal stripe. We have shown that this is visually mediated and depends at least in part on the color and pattern of the environment, particularly on the color above them. By placing stripes of green on the side of a tank, I mottled sandy colored animals (living on a sand flat in Hawaii) to turn green with a cream stripe down their back (typical of animals living in a grass bed). (Photo attached of this morph.)

The change usually takes a couple of molts.

Roy