Image 1

Bigelowina biminiensis is a common lysiosquillid stomatopod found off the southeast coast of the United States and at scattered locations throughout the Caribbean. This female is 37 mm long and was taken from a burrow in a patch of sand at 25 m near the Aquarius. The females orange ovaries are clearly visible. This species was very common in the area. Burrows were about the diameter of a pencil, u-shaped with the entrances about 30 - 40 cm apart and 40 cm deep. The walls of the burrows were composed of a thin, fragile sand mucus coating that made them very difficult to excavate. It is not known whether this species formed monogamous pairs.

Image 2

This species of Nannosquilla is a lysiosquillid stomatopod not previous collected from Florida. It is similar to N. taguensis known only from Tague Bay, St. Croix, although it remains to be determined if it is this species. This male is 19 mm long and was taken from a burrow in a patch of sand at 20 m near the Aquarius. Burrows were about 5 mm in diameter and were u-shaped with the entrances about 20 - 25 cm apart. The bottom of the burrow was about 20 cm deep. The walls of the burrows were composed of a thick, mason-like sand-mucus material. Most adults, including this male, were collected as male-female pairs. These animals were very abundant in the sand directly beneath the wet porch of the Aquarius.

Image 3

This species of Nannosquilla is a lysiosquillid stomatopod is probably undescribed. This female is 23 mm long and was taken as a member of a male-female pair from a burrow in a patch of sand at 20 m near the Aquarius. Burrows were about 6 mm in diameter and were u-shaped. The walls of the burrows were composed of a thick, mason-like sand-mucus material. These animals were less abundant and slightly larger than the other species of Nannosquilla (N. taguensis) collected on this mission.

Image 4

This juvenile Lysiosquillina glabriuscula was collected as a final stage larva during the Aquarius mission. It molted to a postlarvae the night of capture (8/11/99). The photograph was taken 2 months later after the animal had molted twice and had grown to a total length of 24 mm. This species is very abundant around the Aquarius and reaches a maximum size of at least 22 cm total length. The animal viewed on the stomato-cam during the Aquarius mission was a large adult L. glabriuscula.

Image 5

Odontodactylus havanensis was found living at 30 m on a sandy plain at Deep S-4. Over 20 individuals were seen in an area measuring 20 x 40 m. They constructs short u-shaped burrows under pieces of coral rubble. The burrow walls are lined with small pieces of coral and shell. This individual is a small male (38 mm). The largest O. havanensis collected were nearly 7 cm. During our previous mission in 1995, we found local populations of this species at the base of the Aquarius and at Northeast station, but we were unable to locate a single animal at either location during the August, 1999 mission.

Image 6

Each evening a week after the full moon until just after the new moon, stomatopod larvae are abundant in the waters around Aquarius. Many are attracted to the Aquarius lights. Each evening I collected stomatopod larvae by shining a dive light into the well of the wet porch and scooping up the larvae attracted to the light beam. More than a dozen species of stomatopod larvae were collected including this squillid, Meiosquilla quadridens (17 mm male) that was taken August 10th, molted to a postlarva (10 mm) that night, and now is living in my laboratory in Berkeley. We failed to collect any adults of this species, but it was abundant in the plankton.

Image 7

This 42 mm male Odontodactylus havanensis was returned to Roy Caldwell's laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley after the August 1999 Mission. Here it is seen peering out from a cavity in a piece of coralline algae. These animals survive quite well in the laboratory where we are studying mating behavior and their vision.