Tiger shrimp
| Tiger shrimp | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tiger shrimp |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Caridina Mariae | ||||||||||||
| Klotz & von Rintelen , 2014 |
The tiger shrimp ( Caridina mariae , syn .: Caridina cf. cantonensis ) from the genus Caridina is a freshwater shrimp (Atyidae) from southern China . Among the remaining small members of the family, the so-called dwarf shrimp, it is one of the most popular shrimp in the aquarium hobby , along with the bee shrimp and its cultivated forms .
Appearance
Bluish, reddish or brownish horizontal stripes on a transparent background give the animals their name, which can grow to around 22 millimeters. This pattern is narrower and more sharply defined than that of the closely related bee shrimp. As is typical for many freshwater shrimp, there are also several color forms of the tiger shrimp. The short rostrum extends at most to the second segment of the antenna base. The uropod fold is occupied by 19 to 22 thorns and the rostrum formula of the tiger shrimp is 3-4 (4-5) + 9-11 (9) / 13 (2). In male animals, the endopodites (paddle-like branches of the swimming legs) of the first pair of swimming legs ( pleopods ) are folded and widen slightly towards the outside.
Way of life
Like many of its relatives from the genus Caridina , the tiger shrimp feed on growth on stones and rotting plant material as well as the smallest insect larvae. The reproductive phase lasts from March to October. The eggs, which are around 0.9-1.0 × 0.6-0.7 millimeters in size, hatch in shape and color that are very similar to their parents and already adapted to a soil-oriented way of life.
Systematics
The systematic status of the tiger shrimp is unclear. In its area of origin it is referred to as Caridina cantonensis , but adult males from aquarium breeding show a form of endopod of the first pair of swimming legs that differs from this species. In 2014 the species was described by Werner Klotz & Thomas von Rintelen as Caridina mariae .
Color and cultivated forms
The popularity of the tiger shrimp among aquarists has led to various forms of breeding. They have established themselves alongside the actual tiger shrimp
- the tiger shrimp Orange Tail (often referred to in the trade as the Supertiger Orange Tail ), which has the same color structure as the original form, but is colored orange on the head and tail;
- the blue tiger shrimp , in which the body is more or less continuously colored in dark blue. This cultivated form is usually also offered with light eyes ( Blue Tiger Orange Eye );
- the black tiger shrimp , an even darker, almost black blue tiger;
- the golden tiger prawn (also: tangerine ).
On the other hand, the red tiger shrimp is a wild form , in which the characteristic horizontal stripes are not dark, but red. A cultivated form of this variant can be found in the trade, namely the red tiger prawn Orange Eye .
literature
- Andreas Karge, Werner Klotz: Freshwater prawns from all over the world . Dähne Verlag, Ettlingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-935175-39-5 .