Odd shrimp-like creature discovered
A couple were fishing near Fort Pierce, Florida captured an weird creature that actually turned out to be a mantis shrimp or a stomatopod, as identified by a local biology professor. “Praying mantis have similar [appendages], which is why these creatures are sometimes called ‘mantis shrimp,'” said Roy Caldwell, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Caldwell is the one who identified the creature.
Stomatopods are known for their prominent claws, which are used to stab or smash prey. Caldwell mentions that the specimen caught in Florida belongs to a species of Lysioquilla. “This particular group — Lysiosquillidae — are almost all banded yellow and black across their bodies,” Caldwell said. “They can live for 30 years and can grow to be 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) long.”
This odd species doesn’t belong to the biggest stomatopod species. Lysiosquillina maculata, which live in the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to east Africa, can grow to 15 inches long, according to Caldwell. These creatures live in burrows on the seafloor and don’t go out often. Female mantis shrimp many never leave their homes in their entire lifetime.
