Shrimps, Shrimps everywhere!
Together with crabs, shrimps are some of the most common species you encounter in Lembeh. However, they come in such astonishing variety in colour, size, body structure, and habitats that they are impossible to tire of them.
This is the Shaw Blade shrimp (Tozeuma armatum). I was very excited to see this wonderful species that had completely escaped me in my first visit. The name is truly onomatopoeic.
A Plumed shrimp (Leander plumosus). An other wonderfully bizarre species that is characterised by the rostrum that is flat and full of cirri, or tufts of hair. Legs are almost transparent and the shrimp looks like it floats and not walk.
The tiny and jewel-like Tiger shrimp (Phyllognathia ceratophthalmus). The second part of its latin name says everything you need to know about them!
I think that this is a species of Marbled shrimp (Saron marmoratus). I have seen larger specimens in Bali, and these are not great, but they are so easily scared and hide in the corals that spotting them and getting a good photo of them is an achievement on its onw (thanks Lazaros!)
A Ghost shrimp (Pliopontonia furtiva). Leaves inside disk anemones, pinching the flesh to create a cover for her body when feeling threatened.
My photo does not do justice to this Periclemenes venustus. It is one of the most beautiful species i have ever seen and i am sorry i did not spend more time trying to get a better shot of it.
An other species, this time very bland and monochrome, of the Shaw blade shrimp. This leaves in the sand and silt and not perched on gorgonians or corals.
After so many shrimps, i let one perform a little service on me.
You can see larger sized versions of the photos in the library:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sfougarisb/Lembeh2010#