The Opae ula shrimp Forum and online store

I apologise if this is the wrong forum section for this.

Was looking up related species to Opae Ula and came across this facinating fella and got a little carried away compiling stuff.

Halocaridinides socotraensis, or blind cave shrimp from Socotra, identified in 2018. Native to underground caves in Socotra. Remarkably similar to the Opae Ula (Halocaridina Rubra) we know. The World Register of Marine Species list it as a brackish and fresh water species, though they also erroneously list Halocaridina rubra as a fresh water species too.

Unrelated, anyone planning a trip out there?
Stygobiont (Cave-Dwelling-Crustacean) Halocaridinides socotraensis



Almost as well known to the hobby as the Opae Ula is Metabetaeus lohena, or Alpha Opae Ula also endemic to Hawaii and the same pools Halocaridina Rubra.


Also worthy of note is Halocaridinides trigonophthalma, a beautiful shrimp with red and yellow tones. It's mentioned here with the other other Anchialine shrimp of Japan:
Metabetaeus minutus and Antecaridina lauensis.


Halocaridinides trigonophthalma


Metabetaeus minutu
Seems to be possibly sold in Japan in the pet trade under the name "オハグロテッポウエビ", though I'm not sure on an exact translation for that. Strongly resembles a stark yellow Opae Ula.
"In Japan, brackish water shrimp that inhabit the Ryukyu Islands and Anchialine Cave in the Ogasawara Islands. This Japanese name comes from the black spots on the mouth. " (source: twitter.com/trifa3/status/1244870958730448897)






Antecaridina lauensis



Metabetaeus Borradaile




Procaris
Procaris hawaiana, Procaris Unknown(?) Christmas Island Sp, Procaris ascensioni.
Note: "Procaris Hawaiana" is endangered in the wild and is a protected species, and can never be brought into the hobby .


Footage of Procaris ascensionis in it's native environment

Image of P. Ascensionis, also note the Anchialine isopod on the right.





Additional material,
Halocaridinides socotraensis:
http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php? ... id=1262421
https://www.gbif.org/pt/species/9873214
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Sty ... _326112287

Halocaridina trigonophthalma, Metabetaeus minutus, Antecaridina lauensis:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Net ... _257309777
https://www.gbif.org/species/6456047/treatments

Christmas Island Procaris Sp
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... da_Caridea

Fantastic post! Lots of great info there to read, thanks.


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Nice post. Real interesting that they look similar!

Thanks!

I'd really love to see some of these enter the hobby, especially M. minutu and the Socotra shrimp, as many of these species should be able to cohabitate with our Shrimp and add more variety to our tanks.

Though I'd be just as interested in seeing more Opae Ula variations. Don't get me wrong I love the stark red, but the colour variations of Neocaridina and other freshwater dwarf shrimp makes me facinated in the possibility of variations for Opae.

You think they are easy to obtain? You can be the first!

Absolutely near impossible, but I can dream about the non-threatend species at least.

While looking into M. minutus more I found a Japanese page that lists they had sucess in hatching larvae, though also lists that the species as Near Threatened which is unfortunate. Taking them off the list.

(Translated source)
https://blog-canpan-info.translate.goog ... ax,se,elem

Javik wrote:Absolutely near impossible, but I can dream about the non-threatend species at least.

While looking into M. minutus more I found a Japanese page that lists they had sucess in hatching larvae, though also lists that the species as Near Threatened which is unfortunate. Taking them off the list.

(Translated source)
https://blog-canpan-info.translate.goog ... ax,se,elem

They do look like Metabetaeus lohena. Where you able to find the article on the larvae success? I went through the pages and didn’t see it.

opae ula related wrote: ↑24 Aug 2021 06:34

Javik wrote:Absolutely near impossible, but I can dream about the non-threatend species at least.

While looking into M. minutus more I found a Japanese page that lists they had sucess in hatching larvae, though also lists that the species as Near Threatened which is unfortunate. Taking them off the list.

(Translated source)
https://blog-canpan-info.translate.goog ... ax,se,elem

They do look like Metabetaeus lohena. Where you able to find the article on the larvae success? I went through the pages and didn’t see it.

This is the only mention I could find:

We have also succeeded in hatching larvae from incubation individuals (a report is being prepared).

Though I haven't been able to find the mentioned report.