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Species: Cloridopsis dubia

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Click on any image to see an enlargement. All photos © 2006 Roy Caldwell.

Common name: None

Functional type: Spearer

Range: South Carolina to Brazil, scattered locations in the Caribbean; a similar species occurs in the eastern Pacific from El Salvador to Ecuador

Habitat: Shallow water species often found in mud flats

Depth: 0–5 m

Home: Simple u-shaped burrows

Diet: Unknown; probably small crustaceans, annelids and thin shelled clams

Size: 15–156 mm

Color: Grey and blue body, meral spots blue, red carinae of carapace, thorax and abdomen marked with crimson, median carinae, telson teeth and dorsal intersegmental membranes blue, uropods exopods pink

Distinguishing Characters: Eyes small and cornea bilobed set obliquely on stalk; median carina of carapace without bifurcation, dactylus of raptorial claw with 5-6 teeth; the electric blue meral spot is unusually bright for a squillid

Activity: Unknown

Aquarium Requirements:

Temperature: 20–27° C

Salinity: 32–36 PSU

Cohabitants: Unknown

Aquarium size (adult): 40 l

Aquarium substrate: Cohesive mud in which to dig or pvc pipe for burrow

Suitability for Aquarium: Good; seems tolerant to fluctuating water parameters; the unusually bright colors for a squillid make it an interesting species. Providing a mud substrate for it to burrow in could create water problems

Availability: While common on the southeastern U.S. coast, it is only sporadically available from collectors

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External Anatomy and Explanatory Notes