Invertebrates are an important part of almost every ecosystems on earth, but rarely got much attention when zoos planed new conservation programms and therefor educational concepts until (relatively) recently Everyone knows the must see vertebrate species of europe from the boto in duisburg to the red douc langur in cologne since vertebrates are bigger and way easier to tell apart than bug species it is no brainer why they are more popular In my case it took several years to discover the beauty and importance of those little creatures and they finally made it to my must see list of species as well I caught my self more excited about the partula snails in london than any other species at the facility, what was quiet a suprise for me So do you have any invertebrate species on your must see list of animals you can wait to see and may even took a longer trip out just to see them like some of us do for the vertebrates
A must see for me is: coconut crab. Such an amazing species. Used to be dough crab, however, ive seen that one recently in burgers zoo.
Some brachiopods, freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbyi) and blue button (Porpita porpita), all in Japanese collections, the two latter at Kamo aquarium if I remember well.
Here are a few species that are very rare at zoological gardens and most often endangered, therefor worth to watch The species may be kept in more than those mentioned in this post so if you know more please add Onshow Partula snails London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Amsterdam Lord Howe Stick Insect Bristol Fregatte Island beetle Amsterdam Giant isopod Oberhausen
Atrax sp. Carukia barnesi Chironex fleckeri Conus geographus Cyanea capillata Dosidicus gigas Hapalochlaena sp Heterometus swammerdami Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni Metasepia pfefferi Thaumoctopus mimicus
Now you know better...A few of the major public aquaria in Asia, Europe or North America have kept / keep them. To illustrate their popularity in Japan: you can even get a giant isopod cell phone case there. An iPhone Case Shaped Like a Giant Isopod
So all your most wished inverts are marine, half are venomous (suitable for WdG) and half are cephalopods (also a venomous cephalopod at least). You have very well defined tastes hehe Only in Japan there are 16 different aquarium holding B. giganteus and 30 different aquariums holding B. doederleini... In fact the number must be bigger because we don't count the non-AZA aquariums. I Prague I have seen a tank with B. giganteus signed, but empty of isopods. Probably deceased little time before.
Well, actually...the Atrax spiders and the scorpion are terrestrial invertebrates, and only three of the aforementioned species are non-venomous (or rather, venom isn't their key feature). Speaking of toxicity: maybe I should add remipedes and Zosimus aeneus to the list.
Opppps, I didn't paid enough attention at your arachnids Certainly a zoo with remipedes is one that I would visit!
I would like to see a velvet worm, frequently regarded as the evolutionary link between worms and arthropods. I don't know if any zoo keeps velvet worms or kept these invertebrates in the past.
If I am not mixing things up right you can buy them online like coconut crabs/palm thieves But in opposite to the last one velvet worms are if I remember an article correctly not kept since some managed to escape and took over the microenviorment and therefor are considered a potential invasive species
I agree. Velvet worms are very interesting animals. I have only seen them twice - behind the scenes in London Zoo's former Insect House and at the Amateur Entomologicat l Society's annual event at Kempton Park.
Are mimic octopus kept in any aquariums? Preferably ones located in the US. What about Australian giant cuttlefish?
I didn't knew that, but just because one species escaped and turned invasive in just one location, all the whole Class is not allowed in captivity in the world?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?! Well, then we must empty every zoo in the world of every mammal species, just because muntjacks can be locally invasive... Both mimic and wonderpus octopus was kept at Monterey Bay Aquarium Monterey Bay Aquarium - Monterey Bay Aquarium 2013-2018 , but I wonder(pus) if they lived for any reasonable amount of time. These are not species for the hobbyist aquarist, much harder to keep than a regular common octopus. Certainly they are also "must see" for me. Monterey Bay Aquarium - Monterey Bay Aquarium 2013-2018
There are indications that the main issue is age: when they turn up in aquariums (whether private or public), they are generally fully adult, meaning that they only have a few months left of their lives. Really too little for them to settle and then have a chance at breeding. If an aquarium could source immatures they'd have a chance, but it is hard enough to find the adults in their open sand/mud habitat (a habitat infrequently visited by divers, unlike e.g. reefs). As I've mentioned before, most of the "B. giganteus" in aquariums (Japan and elsewhere) are not actually that species. They are often caught in the Pacific off East Asia. In the past all "super giant" giant isopods were referred to as B. giganteus, but following several taxonomic reviews that species is limited to the West Atlantic, with other species found elsewhere. There are some true Atlantic B. giganteus in aquariums, but at least as many are the Pacific species. For most people it wouldn't really matter; they look very similar.
If, as I've mentioned, there are 16 JAZA aquariums holding B. giganteus and 30 holding B. doederleini, this still is agree whith what you said (most of the aquariums holding the pacific instead the atlantic species).
That is why I specifically said "super giant" species (a term used in giant isopods to distinguish the two main morphotypes). B. doederleini is not a super giant, but an "ordinary" giant meaning that it matures at about 15 cm long or less. My comment was specific to the super giants frequently called B. giganteus in public aquariums and unrelated to the much smaller B. doederleini.
