Cleaner Shrimp

Cleaner Shrimp also known as the Skunk Cleaner Shrimp or White-banded Shrimp are also fixtures at cleaning stations, found in reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, which is why they are frequently referred to as the Pacific Cleaner Shrimp. These shrimp advertise their services by waving their long antennae at all passing fish, inviting them to stop for a cleaning. Fish on sighting the cleaner shrimp will often open their mouths wide allowing the shrimp to enter their mouths and remove parasites, dead skin and bacteria. Divers have even been known to let cleaner shrimp inside their mouths to get a feel of their services.

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Pistol Shrimp

Snapping Shrimp better known as Pistol shrimp are tiny finger sized creatures that are seldom seen but almost always heard! Most popularly known with divers for their ceaseless cacophony that colonies of these shrimps produce; these shrimp emit loud crackling sound almost as if a hundred people are cracking their knuckles at once. Upon closer inspection of the snapping shrimp, it has two claws one of which is an oversized claw that resembles a boxing glove almost as big as its body that it uses to stun its prey by snapping the claw shut quickly. This motion is said to actually shoot out a jet of water at up to 60 miles an hour which generates a low pressure bubble that bursts with a loud snap.

Imperator Shrimp

Also known as the Emperor Shrimp or Imperial Shrimp, this tiny shrimp often lives in a symbiotic relationship with several nudibranch species, it lives on their back and in the gills of the nudibranch – feeding on it’s feces. They also live on sea cucumbers, but then they have a slightly different colour. This shrimp is easy to miss because of it’s size, but if you spot a fellow diver or underwater photographer looking closely at a nudibranch or picking up a sea cucumber to look under it, it’s this shrimp they’re looking for.The imperator shrimp is a great underwater macro photography subject.

Hinge-back Shrimp

The Hinge-back Shrimp is a very colorful and attractive shrimp species that belongs to the family Rhynchocinetidae. They feature a complex pattern of spots and bands along the back of its body that are fluorescent in color and they also have prominent bands on their legs.They are more active at night and divers will often encounter them in their torch beam whilst looking in cracks and crevices of the reef. They grow to a maximum length of 6cm.

Anemone Shrimp

The Anemone Shrimp endemic to the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, lives commensally among the tentacles of certain anemones, which offers it some protection from predation.This nearly transparent shrimp is very tiny in size, barely 2 cm (3/4 inch) with its appendages and tail marked with violet spots and edged in white. It’s size and transparency can make it difficult to find unless you know where to look. Mostly spotted on Bubble Tip Anemone and Sun Anemone a diver must look very closely within the host to find them.

Coleman Shrimp

Named after marine naturalist Neville Coleman who first discovered this shrimp, Coleman shrimp are normally found in pairs on the toxic sea urchin,with the female being the larger of the two. They make beautiful photographic subjects and are easy to photograph as they have every confidence that they are secure on their poisonous perch and do not move about as other shrimp often do.

Harlequin Shrimp

These beautiful shrimp dwell in coral reefs, where they live on a diet of starfish. Upon finding their prey, they will overturn it to dine on the starfish’s delicate tube feet. These shrimp are white or a peachy-cream with vibrantly colored spots or splotches. Harlequin found in and around the Indian Ocean typically have blue or purple splotches, whereas ones in the Pacific region have red and orange splotches. Only an inch or so long, harlequin shrimp are one of the most beautiful and elusive critters however, what they lack in size they make up for in fiestiness though, which you’ll experience when you try photographing them. These funky shrimp are very popular for aquariums.

*Photo Credits: photos by Lucas Thompson, Philippe Guillaume, divemasterking2000, doug.deep, prilfish, doug.deep, doug.deep, Enje, doug.deep on flickr

Marine Life Identification: Types of Shrimp was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

The Coral Reef if you listen carefully is a true cacophony of different sounds created by the fish and marine inhabitants of the reef ecosystem.  Apart from the Exhaust Bubble noises created by the divers themselves here are a few sounds that are commonly heard by scuba divers while diving a coral reef.

Crunching of parrot-fish
Parrotfish are perhaps one of the noisiest inhabitants of the reef.  This fish has a strong beak that resembles the beak of a parrot, giving it its name. Parrotfish feed off Algae and coral, will scrape algae from the surface of the coral, creating a scraping sound so loud that you can hear it when you swim nearby underwater. You can often also hear the crunching or grinding sounds of a nearby parrotfish chewing away at coral skeleton trying to get at the coral polyps inside.

Shrimp Crackling or Popping (pistol Shrimp)
Pistol shrimp are tiny finger sized creatures that are seldom seen but almost always heard! Most popularly known with divers for their ceaseless cacophony that colonies of these shrimps produce; these shrimp emit  loud crackling sound almost as if a hundred people are cracking their knuckles at once. These shrimp possess an oversized claw and the action of rapidly opening and shutting the claw produces a loud cracking sound which produces a sort of sonic blast, the shockwave of which is sufficient to stun a passing crab. The sound that these foraging shrimp produce is so distinctive that divers instantly recognize the sound whenever they hear  it. (For more on the Pistol Shrimp read: Snap, Crackle and Pop- The Pistol Shrimp Up Close>)

Grunting Fish
Yes even though it sounds strange, several species of fish produce sound through their swim bladder or Stridulation which is the sound produced when hard skeletal parts or teeth are rubbed together. Fishes such as drums and croakers have sonic muscles attached to or near to their swim bladder. These muscles, the fastest contracting muscles known in vertebrates, cause the swim bladder to contract and expand at a rapid rate, thus creating drumming sounds. Toadfish and Silver Perch are known to croak or groan and Marine catfishes are known to make a creaking sound often heard by catfish anglers. Most common in the reef however is the sound produced by Grunts. This species of fish has over 150 variations and is known as the Grunt because of  the pig-like grunts they can produce with their pharyngeal (throat) teeth.

Dolphin & Whale Sounds
Dolphins and Whales utilize their blowholes and valves to produce sound, though mostly in frequencies that we cannot detect, however dolphins can emit a very wide variety of sounds and humans can only hear a small portion in the range that these marine animals produce. Divers can often hear Dolphin whistles, clicks or chirps while underwater and are fascinating to hear should you ever come across them.

photos from flickr by divemasterking2000, CasaDeQueso, Mshai, jeffk42

Sounds of the Coral Reef was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

The Pistol Shrimp or Snapping Shrimps of the Alpheus shrimp, family are great diggers, and constantly create and maintain burrows in the sea beds sand using its large claws. However the shrimp have really poor eye-sight and being almost blind, cannot spot their predators until it’s too late. The Goby fish  (Gobies in the genus  Amblyeleotris, Cryptocentrus, Ctenogobiops, Istigobius, and Stonogobiops) on the other hand are small vigilant fish that form a symbiotic relationship with the shrimp and act as the shrimp’s watchman against predators, in exchange for shelter in the shrimp’s burrow.

The goby will usually sit at the entrance of the burrow maintaining a constant vigil against potential predators, while the shrimp bulldozes away clearing gravel from the burrow. Whenever the shrimp needs to dump gravel outside the burrow, it is usually exposed to potential predators. However with the Goby keeping lookout, the shrimp places one tentacle on the Goby while exposed, so if the Goby darts inside the burrow, the Shrimp instantly is alerted of the presence of a predator and it too darts back inside the safety of its burrow. The partnering between these two creatures is only that of a watchman and housekeeper. Gobies eat micro-fauna and sometimes tiny fish they find near the bottom, the shrimps feed on what they find in their burrowing and hence do not compete for food.

So how do the Gobies and Shrimp find each other in the first place? Shrimp-goby researchers have been trying to figure out this one for a long time, and have conducted numerous experiments  to determine whether the Gobies find the shrimp, or vice versa, and also to determine whether they locate each other optically or are attracted chemically. There has been no definitive answer as to who spots who in this symbiotic relationship and it is still one of nature’s mysteries.

So the next time you spot a goby while scuba diving, perched vigilantly near a burrow, look closely and you will more often than not, spot the housekeeper shrimp hard at work bulldozing clawful after  clawful of sand. Spend some time watching this interesting relationship and I can tell you , you will not be disappointed.

Photos from flickr by: Nick Hobgood, PacificKlaus. Boogies with Fish

The Fascinating Symbiotic Relationship Between Gobies and Shrimp was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Upon closer inspection of the snapping shrimp, it has two claws one of which is an oversized claw that resembles a boxing glove almost as big as its body that it uses to stun its prey by snapping the claw shut quickly. The action produces a loud cracking sound which produces a sort of sonic blast, the shockwave of which is sufficient to stun a passing crab.

Recent research into the Snapping shrimp has generated much interest after discovering that this tiny creature’s claw snapping motion actually shoots out a jet of water at up to 60 miles an hour which generates a low pressure bubble that bursts with a loud snap. The snap of this bubble can produce something known as sonoluminescence which is caused when the collapsing bubble reaches temperatures of over 4700 degrees Celsius or 5000K which is almost as hot as the surface of the sun which is 5778 Kelvin! The resulting snap also produces light which is of a lesser intensity and not visible to the naked eye.

Many who have tried to keep Pistol Shrimp in aquariums at home will testify that they are simply impossible to rear. The sonic blast of these tiny creatures has cracked the aquarium glass so many times, that most hobbyists simply give up.

Another fascinating fact of these amazing creatures is that Naval Submarines have been known to hide amongst beds of Pistol shrimp to hide from sonar detection. Apparently the noise they create is so much that other submarines find it impossible to pickup other noises using sonar.

Pistol Shrimp are native to the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific and the western pacific regions around  Baja California mostly inhabiting caves, bay or lagoons present on rubble at the bottom.

Another unique feature is the Pistol Shrimp shares a symbiotic association with the goby. The goby has a good eye-sight and thus, warns the shrimp of any approaching predator in the exchange of food that the shrimp provides to the goby and the burrow that the Shrimp digs for both, itself and the goby, to live in.

So the next time you hear the loud snap, crackling and pop while diving, take some time out to investigate, and you will be quite amazed at discovering its source.

photos by: divemasterking2000, budak

Snap, Crackle and Pop- The Pistol Shrimp Up Close was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World