Review: Aquatic Museum (Wing Mau)

Review of the complete set Aquatic Museum by Wing Mau. While in recent years, it appears Wing Mau is producing and marketing figures by Play Visions, Club Earth, and K&M International, this appears to be an original set of theirs. The set consists of six species of crabs, two of which are unique figures (see below).

There are six figures, each a solid piece of PVC/plastic. Each figure comes with a plastic base (there is no attachment method for the base) that when assembled with each other, forms a large base that can be used as a diorama-style play set. I do not remember if each crab figure had a specific base associated with it, so the bases I have for individual species below is random. The figures are typical gashapon-sized, roughtly 25 mm across the carapace (I do not have one handy at the moment for measurements).

This is a recommended set, especially for those interested in aquatic/marine species. It shows up on eBay periodically and is still on the Wing Mau website so it should still be in production.

Here is a group shot of the crabs:

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Here is the assembled base:

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Individual crab figures (in no particular order):

1. Chasmagnathus convexus, the mud-flat crab.
This is to my knowledge a unique figure.

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2. Chiromantes haematocheir, the red-claw crab.
Previously also made by Furuta, Kaiyodo, and Yujin.

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3. Mictyris longicarpus, long-armed soldier crab.
Interestingly, the paper for this figure is mislabeled as Uca arcuata which is also part of the set (see below). Previously made by Cadbury (Yowies) and Epoch.

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4. Tubuca arcuata.
A fiddler crab previously made by Koro Koro (Toba Aquarium).

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5. Paraleptuca crassipes.
A fiddler crab, technically unique by major/professional manufacturers but Jetoar made one for Paleo-Creatures (Unknown Depths).

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6. Austruca lacteae.
A fiddler crab previously made by Epoch.

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Wow, you found these crabs! Where? Big congrats

widukind wrote:

Wow, you found these crabs! Where? Big congrats

I think I bought them on eBay. They pop up on eBay every now and then!

Thanks :)

Love this set! Wing Mau surprise me every time!
Really like the tiles, that you can connect, looks very cool!

Those are cute!

I thought nobody owned this set. I knew it also from Wing Mau website. I find interesting that these bases assemble and obviously it features interesting species. Another set to put on TAI when time allows.

Roger wrote:

I thought nobody owned this set. I knew it also from Wing Mau website. I find interesting that these bases assemble and obviously it features interesting species. Another set to put on TAI when time allows.

It's on eBay now: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Oh, dear ! That is tempting

When you say Uca lacteael do you mean Uca lactea, the milky fiddler crab? I haven't found any Uca lacteael at all:scratch:
Meanwhile, I created a new page on TAI with the respective species pages added. Now the fiddler crabs page is not anymore supposed to bear all fiddler crabs and it links to other 5 pages on species level. I assumed the PEC fiddler crab, once based on Play Visions, is not identified yet to the species level. Anything wrong, just let me know.

Roger wrote:

When you say Uca lacteael do you mean Uca lactea, the milky fiddler crab? I haven't found any Uca lacteael at all:scratch:
Meanwhile, I created a new page on TAI with the respective species pages added. Now the fiddler crabs page is not anymore supposed to bear all fiddler crabs and it links to other 5 pages on species level. I assumed the PEC fiddler crab, once based on Play Visions, is not identified yet to the species level. Anything wrong, just let me know.

yes, thanks Roger. The name 'lactael' is s misspelling that gets perpetuated in the literature sometimes. I thought I had caught that but I must have the incorrect name still in my database. Thanks for catching that.

By the way, U. lactea it is now in the genus Austruca. I have updated the three species above based on the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) database.

bmathison1972 wrote:

Roger wrote:

When you say Uca lacteael do you mean Uca lactea, the milky fiddler crab? I haven't found any Uca lacteael at all:scratch:
Meanwhile, I created a new page on TAI with the respective species pages added. Now the fiddler crabs page is not anymore supposed to bear all fiddler crabs and it links to other 5 pages on species level. I assumed the PEC fiddler crab, once based on Play Visions, is not identified yet to the species level. Anything wrong, just let me know.

yes, thanks Roger. The name 'lactael' is s misspelling that gets perpetuated in the literature sometimes. I thought I had caught that but I must have the incorrect name still in my database. Thanks for catching that.

By the way, U. lactea it is now in the genus Austruca. I have updated the three species above based on the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) database.

Your welcome! So they moved these subgenera to genus level? Wikipedia is surely a very poor source when editing on TAI based on it, especially with less known animal taxa.

Roger wrote:

bmathison1972 wrote:

Roger wrote:

When you say Uca lacteael do you mean Uca lactea, the milky fiddler crab? I haven't found any Uca lacteael at all:scratch:
Meanwhile, I created a new page on TAI with the respective species pages added. Now the fiddler crabs page is not anymore supposed to bear all fiddler crabs and it links to other 5 pages on species level. I assumed the PEC fiddler crab, once based on Play Visions, is not identified yet to the species level. Anything wrong, just let me know.

yes, thanks Roger. The name 'lactael' is s misspelling that gets perpetuated in the literature sometimes. I thought I had caught that but I must have the incorrect name still in my database. Thanks for catching that.

By the way, U. lactea it is now in the genus Austruca. I have updated the three species above based on the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) database.

Your welcome! So they moved these subgenera to genus level? Wikipedia is surely a very poor source when editing on TAI based on it, especially with less known animal taxa.

Sometimes Wikipedia is good, sometimes it's not. Also, sometimes Wikipedia pages show changes at some levels, but not others, so it can be inconsistent. In addition, whether or not to elevate or sink taxa is sometimes personal (just because the new taxonomy is proposed, does not mean everyone will follow it.).

For marine crustaceans (and other animals), the WoRMS database is generally considered the go-to reference. I plan on going through 'Bug of the Day' and making changes to update any changes in taxonomy.