Hello friends, once again another new blog post this year end. This time I will be sharing on how shrimp patterns are named and why they are named that way. Crystal shrimps go a long way back into the hobby, back then shrimps were not so "fancy" and had only a four basic patterns.

The main patterns were as follows:
1) Banded / Tiger Tooth
2) Hinomaru
3) No entry
4) Mosura

Banded / Tiger Tooth

Banded shrimps were the most common shrimps, they were considered the lowest grade among crystal red shrimps back then. Banded shrimps can be identified through its red stripes across the body. Some hobbyist would call this a bee shrimp as it looks like a bee stripe pattern in a different colour.

Tiger tooth pattern would be the same as a banded shrimp, except that it has a slit in the middle band of the shrimp which looks like a tiger tooth.

Hinomaru

Hinomaru is one of my favourite pattern in shrimps. The term Hinomaru orginated from Japan and it represents the red circle in the Japan flag. With that being said, shrimps with just a big dot at the back are categorised under Hinomaru. Hinomaru shrimps have a great balance between two colours and very well defined Hinomaru patterns are still highly sought after till date.

No-Entry

No-Entry shrimps differs a little from Hinomaru shrimps. What is interesting is that a slit across a round circle actually looks like a no-entry sign. Hence the name for this shrimps. Hinomaru shrimps and No-Entry shrimps are usually categorised under the same category in competition but have different grading system when you enter either the Hinomaru or No-Entry shrimp. Ultimately, in shrimps competition, they would follow a set of guidelines on the pattern grading where they emphasise strongly on well defined patterns.

Mosura

I don't really know why they are term Mosura, google didn't help with the meaning of that as well. But base on very faint memories, it somewhat represents a flower pattern. The term Mosura in shrimp keeping represents a small patch of red on the face of a shrimp. There shouldn't be any other pattern on the body of the shrimp as well. Many years ago, Mosura patterned crystal red/black shrimps could go up to a thousand dollars each. The smaller the patch is, the more valuable the shrimp will be.

These are the four main basic patterns of crystal red/black shrimps, it has been use to categorise other types of shrimps like Taiwanbee as well. However, the value of the shrimps differ these days. Back then, Mosura shrimps are very highly sort after due to the rarity of the shrimp. These days, there is an insane supply of such shrimps and pattern are usually not something that determine prices anymore but rather, the intensity of colour is what brings prices up.

In general, the old grading system of crystal shrimps have been removed and although not written in any sculptures, it is a known fact that the intensity of colour is what really differentiate a good shrimp and a bad shrimp. Experience hobbyist would know to see the entire breeding stock before paying premium prices for these shrimps. After-all, lineage is something that has been heavily abused these days, it doesn't hurts to actually pay a little more to get something premium from someone reputable.

Following up with this post, I will post the more complex hybrid patterns. Meanwhile, wishing you a very Merry Christmas!