Puerto Rican shrimp and snails

Micratya poeyi (Caribbean dwarf filter shrimp, field shot):



Macrobrachium carcinus (bigclaw river prawn, field shot):



M. carcinus juvenile (yellow stripe washed out in this shot):



M. faustinum (no English common name):



Xiphocaris elongata (yellow-nose or carrot-nose shrimp):



Nerite snails:





Thought you might be interested. If you've seen these on any other forums, sorry for the cross-posting.

Notophthalmus said:

Fantastic stuff, Cuvier, thanks for sharing! Do you ever run across Atya scabra there?

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Yes, along with two other species of Atya. I'll try to post some photos later.

Wycco said:

Awesome- these can all be collected wild in Puerto Rico?

How do they do in an aquarium set up... I'm assuming those Macro's need to be in species specific tanks like the more common macros.

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Yes, these are all widespread throughout Puerto Rico.

One of my tanks contains a fairly large number of M. faustinum (around a dozen) with some Xiphocaris, Atyids, and unidentifiable juvenile Macrobrachium. So far (knock on wood) there haven't been any issues, but I provided a large amount of artificial cover (the perforated plastic cubes seen in some of the photos, PVC pipe) and leaf litter.

These shrimp are still fairly small, though. I may have to separate them as they grow.

The smaller Atyids (some of them very brightly colored) have been hard to photograph, but here are some Atya lanipes:

Wycco said:

I wonder if it would be legal for me to look for some and bring them home?

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Collection of the smaller shrimp doesn't seem to be subject to Puerto Rican regulation, so the real issue is bringing them back. Since PR is a commonwealth of the US, shipping live shrimp is in some ways more akin to interstate transport than, say, exporting your catch from a collection trip in South America. However, checked baggage typically passes through a USDA x-ray and -- though I've heard of researchers who've brought back thermoses of crabs even in carry-on -- I'm not entirely sure how the inspectors would react. Next-day mail carriers might be your best (well, possibly pricey) alternative.

My situation may be a little exceptional since I collected the critters in conjunction with permit-bearing researchers and am doing scientific work with them stateside. Though I've read of aquarists who did the same just for their own tanks (and seen Aquabid sellers shipping cherry shrimp to and from Puerto Rico), I would double-check the appropriate regs before deciding to take any for purely personal use.

In my experience, by the way, survival casualties when shipping in breather bags have been negligible (several to 24+ hours in transit).