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Fresh Water Shrimp

Macrobrachium hancocki

Photo by LarryGraziano
Published on Project Noah
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10.1991, -85.826

Field Notes

Description:

a bright blue crayfish about 3 inches long.

Habitat:

clear and clean streeam in tropical dry forest in NW Costa Rica end of rainy season

Notes:

sorry for the poor photos, this guy was moving non-stop and under three inches of water. I couldn't properly focus

Reference Links:

Artbeschreibungen der AG Wirbellose Tiere der Binnengewässer

Species ID Suggestions

Electric Blue Crayfish

Procambarus alleni
JillyEnFuego
2

Red Crayfish

Procambarus Clarkii

Reference Link
Curator of Good
2

Macrobrachium sp, Familia Palaemonidae, Orden Decapoda.
Jonathan Sequeira
1

Macrobrachium hancocki
Alexander M. Kim
1

Comments (61)
LarryGraziano
No shortage of suggestions Mark…that's for sure. However, we got it locked down after plenty of research! Thanks Mark and Maria!
Mark Ridgway
Sorry I missed this one Larry. It's a beauty. (no shortage of suggestion choices here either but we might call it a yabby)
LarryGraziano
Thanks ceejayalyssa! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
ceejayalyssa
never seen one like this. amazing color! thank you for this picture
LarryGraziano
Mae, te ganaron por solo unos dias nada mas. Que bien que recordaste de mi! gracias...un abrazo!
Ismael Chaves
Hoy vi esta langosta en una foto de la universidad y de una ves me recorde de este spotting y apunte el nombre cientifico para dartelo, pero parece q me ganaron jaja
LarryGraziano
Thank you Alexander! I have been researching and researching for quite some time to get a proper I.D. for this lovely creature. How did you know which it was? Are the macrobrachium your specialty? There is only one site with photos relating to this species.
Alexander M. Kim
It's without a doubt Macrobrachium hancocki, related to M. crenulatum on the Atlantic versant. The metallic blue coloration is very characteristic.
LarryGraziano
cindy, here is the link for the other mission: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8180070 I just learned that if you want to see all the available missions than you can go to missions, click local, delete your geographic area from the spacebar, click search. you should see all th missions everywhere in the world.
CindyBinghamKeiser
Hi IgCostaNut, I added a spotting http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8520717 to The Color Blue mission. Obviously this is purple but I didn't see a purple mission. Please let me know if you would like me to remove this and my other purple spottings. Thanks!
LarryGraziano
si quieres, te mando una en alta resolucion....gracias amigo!
Jonathan Sequeira
Ig, envié la foto a varios amigos incluso de INBIO esperemos a ver que nos dicen....
LarryGraziano
Thanks Ann! I am pretty sure this is a shrimp like Jonathan suggested. The crayfish that most people see are the procambarus variety which are common through the U.S.
annorion
There were at least 4-5 blue crayfish at the Aquarium of Americas in New Orleans last time we went. They are the local red variety with a gene mutation but they may be able assist with species ID...
LarryGraziano
any shrimp or crayfish specialists out there for an I.D.?
Jonathan Sequeira
Sacrificar uno por la ciencia puede se la razón de proteger toda la especie, asi que puede valer la pena ....
LarryGraziano
pueda ser jonathan. vamos a ver....me va costa un huevo para mandarlo. aparte, quieria tus consejos. porque? porque hay que matar uno. no se si quiero hacerlo por ciencia. aparte, hay un mercado grande de tenerlos como mascotas en acuarios. Si esta se pasa, se va arruinar un especia.
Jonathan Sequeira
Wow se está poniendo interesante el asunto de este espécimen, creen que podría ser una nueva especie?
Alonso Garcia
yo podria lograr que me lo enviaran a cartago.....cuales son las instrucciones....este es mi cel 83766113
LarryGraziano
Yo vi algunos fotos en el web. Yo acabo de hablar con unos expertas de camerones de rio y ellos me decian que era macrobrachium tambien. Me decian que no conocieron esta especie. Me mandaron instrucciones para enviar uno a EUA pa estudiarlo. Que hago?
Jonathan Sequeira
En el pacifico sur de Costa Rica en las quebradas con bosque aún abundan.
Alonso Garcia
cierto,buena observacion.....yo vi unos en jamaica hace como 15 años que si eran iguales a este tuyo super brillantes.......y hablando en golfito me llevaron a ver estos de mi foto....pero la tonalidad si era diferente........esperemos a ver que dicen los gringos
LarryGraziano
pueda ser porque me di cuenta que lo mio tiene amarillo en las pinzas/manos y lo suyo no.
Alonso Garcia
mae viendo las fotos......el mio no era brillante como el tuyo....era opaco,eran como 20 los que vi....y eran diferentes en el brillo a este tuyo........nose
LarryGraziano
great links and info michelle! I still insist it is a species. The yellow coloration on the claw joints and the fact that the rest of the legs don't have the blue coloration like the wiki examples lead me to believe this. Afterall, these specimans come from a tropical environment where the temperature never dips below 68 degrees. One week prior to the photo we had finished the rainy season and there was no sun for two months...only clouds.
PankiSood
what ever ...beautiful creation ...thanks for sharing
Michelle Parish
See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish Look at the Cherax sp. toward bottom... looks very much like it! Also here is another interesting article that could explain coloration. http://www.myneworleans.com/Louisiana-Life/March-April-2009/Louisianian-at-Large/ (red Louisiana crayfish turning permanently blue)
LarryGraziano
Macrobrachium? I just read that there are 13 species of macrobrachium here in Costa Rica. Maybe this is one of them?
LarryGraziano
Frazier, the only other animals this blue in the area are the Morpho butterfly's!
Carol Snow Milne
So happy for you that you found something so unique and colorful! Congrats! Post when you here news from the biologist.
Saarbrigger
Amazing colour for crayfish. Like to see one of it once.
LarryGraziano
Sure could be that reason. I am going to check into it.
Curator of Good
The Electric Blue that JillyEnFuego suggested is the only one species I've heard of where they are genetically blue, but I've read about other cases where it is either a bacteria or fungus that causes the coloration of normally red or brown crayfish. In either case, it could account for a whole group of these crayfish being blue.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Paso Pacifico Survey
Mission
The Color Blue

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Photographed
PublishedNovember 12, 2011

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