Does anyone have clear photos of Macrobrachium lanchesteri (ghost/glass shrimp) males. I have two M. lanchesteri females, which I would like to reproduce, but honestly I don't have a clue what a male looks like. Sofar I haven't found any photos online.
I do know that some macros have differences in size between genders, but I'm not quite sure how is the thing with M. lanchesteri.
Wirbellose.de tells that the male should be larger than the female, but the shrimp in my LFS, that I suspect to be a male counterpart, I way smaller than the girls.
*confused*
M. lanchesteri genders
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GunmetalBlue
- Shrimpoholic
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Hi Sami, I was in the same situation as you, I had two females so unfortunately, don't have any pics of males.
I'm inclined to go with the Wirbellose info that the male should be larger than the female. But size is relative, especially if there are juveniles involved. I am not sure if there are any other characterization to help tell them apart other than the fact the grown females will have eggs and the males won't.
Don't know if you already saw this link: http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.a ... 740T09.htm but they quote:
"3.2 Size
In the Malaysian area ovigerous females of C. (M). lanchesteri may have an overall length of only 33 mm. Wild caught specimens seldom exceed 50 mm but the author obtained larger specimens from the research ponds of the Tropical Fish Culture Research Station at Batu Berendam, Malacca. The largest, a male, had an overall length of 62 mm. The large-sized males differ somewhat from the smaller individuals previously described and will necessitate a redescription of the species."
Reading between the lines, they seem to be inferring females are smaller ...
-GB
I'm inclined to go with the Wirbellose info that the male should be larger than the female. But size is relative, especially if there are juveniles involved. I am not sure if there are any other characterization to help tell them apart other than the fact the grown females will have eggs and the males won't.
Don't know if you already saw this link: http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.a ... 740T09.htm but they quote:
"3.2 Size
In the Malaysian area ovigerous females of C. (M). lanchesteri may have an overall length of only 33 mm. Wild caught specimens seldom exceed 50 mm but the author obtained larger specimens from the research ponds of the Tropical Fish Culture Research Station at Batu Berendam, Malacca. The largest, a male, had an overall length of 62 mm. The large-sized males differ somewhat from the smaller individuals previously described and will necessitate a redescription of the species."
Reading between the lines, they seem to be inferring females are smaller ...
-GB
Hi GunmetalBlue,
Thanks for your reply and especially thanks for the article!
I've been reading some Crustaceana -journals, but sofar I haven't found too much information about M. lanchesteri, so this article really helped me to understand this species. When I looked at the reference list of this FAO article, I noticed that I haven't been looking at enough old journals yet.
Hopefully I will be able to find some drawings of this species bodyparts when I go get the mentioned journal.
It's indeed possible that the assumed male isn't adult yet, but I'm very curious about the small size of his claws. Especially when compared to the claws of my other female, his claws are very tiny.
Ofcourse it's still an option that he isn't M. lanchesteri at all.
Both of my females do have visible ovaries, but the male doesn't.
Thanks again!
Thanks for your reply and especially thanks for the article!
I've been reading some Crustaceana -journals, but sofar I haven't found too much information about M. lanchesteri, so this article really helped me to understand this species. When I looked at the reference list of this FAO article, I noticed that I haven't been looking at enough old journals yet.
Hopefully I will be able to find some drawings of this species bodyparts when I go get the mentioned journal.
It's indeed possible that the assumed male isn't adult yet, but I'm very curious about the small size of his claws. Especially when compared to the claws of my other female, his claws are very tiny.
Ofcourse it's still an option that he isn't M. lanchesteri at all.
Both of my females do have visible ovaries, but the male doesn't.
Thanks again!