Coral - November/December 2010

find some larvae in Tahiti, but because the adults live 20-30 years, they’re taking a beating. They’re available cheaply in Bali and Hong Kong too. In the Mediterranean, Squilla mantis is a common fisheries species, but aquarists don’t want to keep them.

Probably the only species really impacted now is Odontodactylus scyllarus. I used to be able to get 6.5-inch ( 16-17 cm) individuals for striking force studies, now you see 2-inch ( 5 cm) individuals.

CORAL: What would you like the world, and aquarists in
particular, to know about stomatopods?

Dr. Caldwell: I want people to appreciate the complexity and the beauty of nature. The reason I try to help people keep and care for stomatopods is that these are incredibly interesting and accessible animals that you can appreciate in your aquarium. Hopefully, that spills over into a concern for the habitats from which they come. I’m not that concerned with any individual species or population of stomatopods. I’m much more concerned about the habitats where they are found and the persistence of coral reefs. If people can become more aware of the need for conservation through keeping an animal that’s interesting and interactive, great—I hope lots of people keep them.

back and forth? For most animals, we don’t know; for most interspecific interactions, we don’t know either. I set up reef cavities in Panama, and those cavities are occupied by a little fish, a couple of species of octopus, a couple of species of stomatopods, and an occasional crab. I know they’re competing for the cavities, but I don’t know how much information is actually being exchanged or whether it’s simple or complex.

We have the technology and one of the abilities to quantify communication now, so I think it can be done.

We can use information theory to find out how much the behavior of one individual affects another. I’m thinking I may head off in that direction...if I don’t get sidetracked.

CORAL: Finally, is there any one burn-
ing stomatopod issue that has puz-
zled you over the years that you still
haven’t figured out?

Dr. Caldwell: That’s quite a question. I don’t like to use the word intelligence, but I keep coming back to the question of just how plastic these animals are, and how much their behavior is modified by experience. There are times I’m convinced that they can learn tasks quicker than an octopus, and there are other times when I think they don’t learn anything.

A question I’ve been wanting to ask for over 40 years is how much do stomatopods communicate with other species and other individuals. When we find a cavity occupied by a stomatopod or a pygmy octopus, and they display to each other, how much information is really going

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