Tag: crustaceans

Redtail Fairy Shrimp – Day 1

I set some eggs to hatch on the windowsill, with some sun, at around 11 a.m.

This evening, I was surprised to see some whitish specks moving in there, and now this many have hatched after just over 12 hours. An LED lamp has been on over the jar since the daylight started fading.

The eggs came from an eBay seller who claimed there were 30 eggs per packet. It immediately looked like more, and I wish I had only used part of the packet starting out. I was already planning to move the shrimp into a larger container after they grow more, but that’s looking like an even better plan now!

These babies are showing some interesting unexpected behavior, visible here: “The baby shrimps of Redtail Fairy Shrimp swim right after hatching like other fairy shrimps, but sometimes they stop swimming and stay at one spot for 10 seconds to a few minutes in the day they hatched out. After the first day, they keep swimming but slower and calm, which is a very different behavior compared to other fairy shrimps.” (http://www.arizonafairyshrimp.com/redtailfairy.html)

Aqua Dragons – Day 74 – 2nd generation!

The window-lit algae was really getting in the way here.

But, I noticed some babies swimming around in there this afternoon!

That one big female has been carrying eggs for a while, and some of them must have hatched. Nobody else has berried up yet, though there’s been plenty of breeding behavior as you can see here.

(Music: “Vespers” by Topher Mohr, YouTube Audio Library)

@ the person asking about filter feeding thai micro crabs, most people feed their freshwater filter feeders liquid fry food or baby brine shrimp! you just suck some of the fry food or defrosted baby (not adult) brine shrimp in a turkey baster or eye dropper and squirt it near them. if your other tank mates will tolerate it, a powerhead is a great way to make sure enough food is floating by him

aquariadise:

Hey, thanks for sharing! This is a great tip – while Thai micro crabs can do pretty well on a diet consisting partly of regular foods it’s a great option to at least try regularly. 

This is also the best solution for those who keep the more “obligate” filter feeders that lack regular claws and have fan hands instead. Those definitely need to be fed using this method – some even like to give their filter sponge a good squeeze in front of their bamboo shrimp. Messy, but they love it! 🙂

Lobsters live up to an estimated 45 to 50 years in the wild, although determining age is difficult.[10] In 2012, a report was published describing how growth bands in calcified regions of the eyestalk or gastric mill in shrimps, crabs and lobsters could be used to measure growth and mortality in decapod crustaceans.[11] Without such a technique, a lobster’s age is estimated by size and other variables; this new knowledge “could help scientists better understand the population and assist regulators of the lucrative industry”.[12]

Research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken or lose fertility with age, and that older lobsters may be more fertile than younger lobsters. This longevity may be due to telomerase, an enzyme that repairs long repetitive sections of DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes, referred to as telomeres. Telomerase is expressed by most vertebrates during embryonic stages, but is generally absent from adult stages of life.[13] However, unlike most vertebrates, lobsters express telomerase as adults through most tissue, which has been suggested to be related to their longevity.[14][15][16] Lobster longevity is limited by their size. Moulting requires metabolic energy and the larger the lobster, the more energy is needed; 10 to 15% of lobsters die of exhaustion during moulting, while in older lobsters, moulting ceases and the exoskeleton degrades or collapses entirely leading to death.[17][18]

Lobsters, like many other decapod crustaceans, grow throughout life and are able to add new muscle cells at each moult.[19] Lobster longevity allows them to reach impressive sizes. According to Guinness World Records, the largest lobster ever caught was in Nova Scotia, Canada, weighing 20.15 kilograms (44.4 lb).[20][21]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobster#Longevity

so not immortal, but they do essentially get too strong to live, growing more and more powerful armor until they are too weak to escape it

(via ultralaser)

same

(via rubyvroom)

Source: ultralaser

The perfect gift for your animal-mad partner/friend/relative

palaeoplushies:

We’ve all heard of “Adopt a Tiger” or “Adopt
a Panda” campaigns. Whilst these are worthy causes, why not share some
love for some less appreciated animals?

Adopt a Lobster

Look at these adorable lobsters. You can name a lobster for
only £3.00GBP, which gets you a certificate and you can find out when your lobster
has been released into the wild off the coast of Cornwall, UK. There’s plenty
of other options too, which come with stuffed plush lobsters, chocolate
lobsters, anything lobster-related you could want!

Money goes towards the National Lobster Hatchery, which
raises lobsters and releases them into the wild as part of a sustainable scheme
which works alongside local fishermen to increase wild lobster populations.
This scheme has been so successful it’s being introduced to other parts of the
UK, too!  

Name a Roach

Lobsters not for you? How about naming a roach, for only
$15USD. Plus there’s a bunch of really cute cockroach-related goodies up for
grabs, too.  Money raised goes towards
the Wildlife Conservation Society!

Adopt a Kākāpō

Okay, so maybe you don’t like invertebrates. That’s okay,
there’s plenty of lesser known vertebrates looking for help, too.

You can adopt a kākāpō and help protect the remaining 151 in
the wild. 151, that’s crazy! That’s only 1 generation of pokémon’s worth of kākāpō
left in the wild.

This adoption scheme is a little more pricy, with $100 NZD
for the lowest tier, but it gets you an adoption certificate, a plush kakapo
and some other goodies! Who wouldn’t want to adopt a kākāpō named “Bluster
Murphy”?

Plush American Oystercatcher!

Not strictly an adoption scheme, 20% of the sale price ($49
USD) of each of these adorable Plush American Oystercatchers goes to real
Oystercatchers through a donation to the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New
Jersey. I just couldn’t resist adding this.

Thank you for reading! If anyone has any more unusual animal adoption suggestions, feel free to add onto this post!