i caught a mantis shrimp. but what kind???

[ersico]

i caught this fellow at folly beach, south carolina low tide from a hole he was peeking out of...about 15 feet from a rock jetty in about 2 inches of water....water temp is near 67 F. he has green eyes. and yellow/navy blue on its tail...........these are be best pics i could take of it....................its bout 5 inches long too

enjoy.

[schaadrak]

Sweet find!

Check out this site:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

[princess]

i dunno! but thats soooo cool! they scare me

[serafino]

My guess from looking at that link is either a squilla empusa or a squilla rugosa.
I'm no expert though. Although I think you are a little too far north for a rugosa. But anyway just what I think I want to see if I get it right when someone that does know exactly what it is posts. Anyway any type of mantis shrimp is going to be awesome cool catch!

[ersico]

Squilla empusa yup thats the one............unfortunately it didnt last long...........the spider crab made meal of it.............. :( that sucked soo bad.......this is not what i thought was going to happen........apparently i was very wrong

[doglegdd]

To bad the crab ate it and it was not you. Those things are better than shrimp. We eat them in Spain all the time and are much bigger than 5 inches.

[serafino]

Well that sucks. Too bad they are really cool.