Pistol shrimp, but what kind is it?

[Polymate3D]

Hello!

So a year fight but I have finally caught the buggar which keeps making the click noise. Especially at night!

I took the rock out and in a sealed container to kill it but opened it today to find small drops of saltwater in the bottom and him going around. This was at room temperature (20c). He is now in a tiny 10cm cube mini aquarium with some rocks and is eating.

Not sure what to do with him now. I'm confident he has killed hermit crabs. I'm working on a tiny aquarium concept o maybe I will just keep him for that!

Either way I would love to know more on what species of pistol shrimp he is.

- Paul

 

[luis angel]

Following this, Does it sound like a snail hitting glass? Some nights after the lights go out I hear something like that but I don't know what it could be.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Looks like a type of big claw snapping shrimp (pistol shrimp), Alpheus heterochaelis. A picture of the claw would help.

 

[Seansea]

Ya. Sounds like glass splitting. Freaked me out when i first heard it

 

[ralquist]

Looks like a tiger pistol to me but I’m no expert. Mine looks very similar and is the most noisy at night right as the lights go off.

 

[littlefoxx]

@ISpeakForTheSeas might know. If its one of the shrimps that partner with shrimp gobies I vote get him a goby!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Either way I would love to know more on what species of pistol shrimp he is.

Can you get a straight-on pic of the top and another of the side both showing the shrimp's whole body under white light (and preferably with a black background for contrast)?

This shrimp is from the Alpheus leviusculus group (called "Clade L"), and there are a number of different species that look incredibly similar to it, so clear pics would really be needed to figure out the species. Also, if you know where it hitchhiked in from (i.e. Florida/the Caribbean, the Indo-Pacific, Australia, etc.), that would be helpful too.