Reef Discussion
Christ! No way I am getting one after watching that! Great vid, Kharn - thanks for sharing.
Yeah as soon as I heard you mention red liner + pistol...THIS video came to mind as I had watched it in the past, however at the time I was (and still am) more fascinated in the pistol shrimp generating temps with its 'claw blast' equal to the surface of the SUN!?!?!:eek
A shrimp...that is just mythological...unbelievable yet undeniable! :D
A shrimp...that is just mythological...unbelievable yet undeniable! :D
Harmless to us which is ironic when you think about it...I see and catch them all the time when collecting smaller crabs at low tide, they never hurt but there popping is all you hear at low tide (that is what makes the popping noises, millions of them, under every rock I find more then 4 at least).
First time I collected some and brought them back to put in my live tank, I dropped one in and instantly the fish I had in there tore it apart...so the rest went into a compartment in the sump where they have lived happily since, they are all black & white/clear tiger pattern pistols.
A wrasse will take out your shrimp sooner or later...as to pistol $&@(::/;( shrimps, i lost a lot of innocent fish including a $200 flame angel thanks to ine 25mm cocky, trigger happy pistol.
Abalone divers call them thumb splitters, as they will crack/smash a thumbnail. Fastest flick/ing animal in the world.
Abalone divers call them thumb splitters, as they will crack/smash a thumbnail. Fastest flick/ing animal in the world.
I don't think any pistol shrimp gets large enough to pose any sort of threat to a human perhaps what the divers were referring to were actually stomatopods (mantis shrimps) as there nickname from divers is 'Thumb Splitter' I have held hundreds of pistol shrimp none have every hurt me and they have all used their claws in my palm, they just flip when they fire. Stomatopods have been known to cause nasty wounds to divers that are unaware of their potential and hence try to handle them...
I think that a lot of "murders" that happen where a pistol shrimp is the assailant is similar to sharks at beaches most of the time (specially fish) that are killed by a pistol shrimp are (imo) mistakes by the shrimp itself...
Pistol Shrimp are a paranoid species and their also virtually blind...If there is 1 thing a pistol shrimp is forever doing, its refurbishing its home, always shifting moving things continuously, they rely a lot on their partner (goby) for general eye sight and even the goby isn't always safe from it's shrmp pal, the goby lets the shrimp know who it is all the time but consistently beating its fins/body against the shrimp in a consistent pattern thus the shrimp picks up on the pattern and understands its just his buddy goby, should the goby stop rubbing / beating it's fins on the shrimp. Then the shrimp will treat the goby as a threat and kill it, the goby is defenseless against a pistol shrimp.
Logically (in my view)
When the pistol is alone it percieves a lot of things as threats/food since it doesn't have its goby spotter to actually confirm/deny the threat, normally the goby would signal the shrimp whether this passing habitant is a threat/food or not and if it is a threat, the goby will dash into the cave and the pistol will come out to do combat.
All this relies more upon the goby and the decision it makes then relays to the pistol shrimp, without the goby well...yeah.
Pistol Shrimp are a paranoid species and their also virtually blind...If there is 1 thing a pistol shrimp is forever doing, its refurbishing its home, always shifting moving things continuously, they rely a lot on their partner (goby) for general eye sight and even the goby isn't always safe from it's shrmp pal, the goby lets the shrimp know who it is all the time but consistently beating its fins/body against the shrimp in a consistent pattern thus the shrimp picks up on the pattern and understands its just his buddy goby, should the goby stop rubbing / beating it's fins on the shrimp. Then the shrimp will treat the goby as a threat and kill it, the goby is defenseless against a pistol shrimp.
Logically (in my view)
When the pistol is alone it percieves a lot of things as threats/food since it doesn't have its goby spotter to actually confirm/deny the threat, normally the goby would signal the shrimp whether this passing habitant is a threat/food or not and if it is a threat, the goby will dash into the cave and the pistol will come out to do combat.
All this relies more upon the goby and the decision it makes then relays to the pistol shrimp, without the goby well...yeah.
I did my research on Pistol Shrimps when I read an article about one Pistol Shrimp killing a much larger O.scyllarus (Peacock mantis), instantly I respected them & was equally interested in them and to this day (even after being told by so many other credited researchers in counter of my fears) I will refuse to put the 2 together (on purpose) in fear of my stomatopods xD, if the "story" was from some '2 bit forum post by a nobody' I wouldn't be inclined to believe it...but since it was an actual story from the Author of CORAL magazine about his own tank with his own Pistol Shrimp & New Peacock (an issue with a large article on stomatopods)....I was inclined to believe it.
