[enchelycore808]

Originally Posted by Gonodactylus

There are five species of stomatopods that are relatively easy to collect in Hawaii.

Pseudosquilla ciliata, running around on shallow reef flats, low intertidal

Gonodactylaceus falcatus, in cavities in coral rubble, extreme low intertidal

Lysiosquillina maculata, burrows in sand flats, low intertidal to subtidal

Odontodactylus brevirostris, burrows in substrate, 30 to 100 feet

Echinosquilla guerinii, cavities and burrows, rubble and substrate, 50-100 feet


My favorite site for collecting O. brevirostris is Lahi Lahi Point. They occur in burrows in the coralline algae substrate on the front slope start ing at 30 feet and down to 90 feet. Since the burrows are in solid bench, the animals are a bit hard to catch. The burrows are almost always u-shaped with two openings. Locate both openings (usually about 6 to 12 inches apart, place a 8 inch aquarium net over one opening and push your finger into the other. The animal will pop out into the net. Then comes the fun part, catching the animal trapped under the net and transferring it to a collecting bag or a small plastic bottle with holes drilled in it. I can usually get three or four O. brevirostris on a 30 min dive.

Roy

Thank you very much! Thats exactly the type of info i was looking for. And thanks for the tip about the burrows. I will take a dive later and see if Im lucky. Wouldnt mind catching a falcatus but I dont think we have them here on the Big Island. Been trying to find smashers lately because all i find are spearers. Will start checking out the bench and rubble a little more throughly. Thanks again Dr. Roy!