catching mantis shrimp


Ken Gargett

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while on christmas island, english showed me how to catch mantis shrimps. these things live in holes on the reef and are hard to get out. you tempt them with a bit of fish flesh and then have to know how to grab their claws when they edge out. you have to be really careful as they are viscous and can slash you quite badly. but they are unbelievably delicious when freshly grilled.

i got this from wikip!

"Called "sea locusts" by ancient Assyrians, "prawn killers" in Australia and now sometimes referred to as "thumb splitters" because of the animal's ability to inflict painful gashes if handled incautiously mantis shrimp sport powerful claws that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Although it happens rarely, some larger species of mantis shrimp are capable of breaking through aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon."

this shows english looking for the things.

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english has got hold of the claws, very carefully as they have been known to remove fingers.

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and here it is.

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a close up. - to follow.

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Those thing can break you open? Is that correct?

english has hold of their claws which are razorsharp. and fly shut like a mousetrap. they apparently have caused serious damage to many humans. you need to hold them by the very tips of their claws so that they cannot get to you. otherwise, expect blood and gore.

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Guest robustog

I had one in my saltwater tank for about 8 years. When setting up the tank I bought some live rock from company in Tampa Fla that farms live rock. You order one day, they harvest the rock (and sand if you want) and ship it via air in water. I picked mine up same day at the airport and had it in my tank that night. One side effect of getting live rock this way, I say side effect because some find it possitive and some negitive, but you get a ton of hitch hikers: Starfish, crabs, worms, corals, fish, plants, etc.

The Mantis plagued my tank the entire time. He would wonder around at night grabbing snails and crabs, you would hear loud snaps when it was cracking the shells open. I have gone thru hundreds and hundreds of snails only to have a graveyard of emply shells with holes in them. The one in my tank, which is 90 gal, was only 4 inches at most, nothing like the size of the one above.

it takes big gazubas to pick them up like that!!

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