Morphological characteristics Of mantis shrimp, Squilla sp.

Stomatopods or the common name, mantis shrimp is one of the unique crustacean animal that live in marine ocean. Mantis shrimp or stomatopoda belonging to the subclass Hoplocarida that categorize to the suborder Unipeltata and Stomatopoda. Due to behaviour of the mantis shrimp that only spend their lifetime mostly in burrows and cavities, these crustaceans are hardly to study. This
morphological study on mantis shrimp have been conducted to add some information and research about mantis shrimp species in Malaysia to contribute the management and conservation programs for mantis shrimp species in Malaysia. The objective for this study is to investigate morphological variability of mantis shrimp within three
locations in Selangor which are Tanjung Karang, Sekinchan, and Kuala Selangor. Adult mantis shrimp from different source were purchased and obtained from Kuala
Selangor, Tanjung Karang, and Sekinchan. To determine the significance difference of morphometric and meristic parameters within three population, one-way analysis
of variance (ANOVA) have been performed. To recognize main characters to differentiate the researched populations, Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) also
have been used. Finding from the present study showed significance different within three populations and Kuala Selangor have the highest morphological differentiation
between populations. The most dependable character is abdominal length of mantis shrimp. The significance different happened due to different factors including amount and type of prey, and also genetic variability. As a conclusion, this present study showed that differences occurred in morphological characteristics within three
locations in Selangor state. This study probably essential to management and conservation programme for mantis shrimp, future studies and improving information
about morphological and species of mantis shrimp that available in Malaysia.