Squilla mantis
| Squilla mantis | |
|---|---|
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| Squilla mantis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Stomatopoda |
| Family: | Squillidae |
| Genus: | Squilla |
| Species: | S. mantis |
| Binomial name | |
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Squilla mantis (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Cancer mantis Linnaeus, 1758 |
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| External identifiers for Squilla mantis | |
|---|---|
| Encyclopedia of Life | 1022627 |
| ITIS | 99152 |
| NCBI | 280675 |
| WoRMS | 136137 |
Cancer mantis Linnaeus, 1758
Squilla mantis is a species of mantis shrimp found in shallow coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. Its abundance has led to it being the only commercially fished mantis shrimp in the Mediterranean.
Individuals grow up to 200 millimetres (8 in) long, and is of the spearer type. It is generally dull brown in colouration, but has two brown eye spots, circled in white, at the base of the telson. Other species – including smashers – are also sold in the aquarium trade as Squilla mantis.
S. mantis digs burrows in muddy and sandy bottoms near the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent warm parts of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It remains in its burrow during the day and comes out at night to hunt, and in the winter to mate.
It is found around the entire coast of the Mediterranean, and in the Atlantic Ocean south from the Gulf of Cádiz to Angola, as well as around the Canary Islands, and Madeira. It has historically been recorded from the Bay of Biscay and the British Isles, but is not known to occur there any more. It is particularly abundant where there is significant run-off from rivers, and where the substrate is suitable for burrowing. In the Mediterranean, the outflows from the Nile, Po, Ebro and Rhône provide these conditions.
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Wikipedia