Thunder_reef
Active Member
Several months ago I acquired a white spot hermit crab, as I’ve stated before I really like hermits so I couldn’t pass him up. The idea being he could live in the fuge portion of my sump until I could set him a tank up. Well that’s finally done but not the point of this post.
after a few days of observing him in my sump I noticed something moving around inside his shell. Then I realized it was a small shrimp. The shrimp lived inside the crabs shell and would pop out to the edge while the crab was eating. I hunted hi and low on the internet trying to Id the shrimp and finally , through desperation I blindly emailed a marine biologist at the University of Hawaii. He emailed me back and identified the shrimp as a Aretopsis amabilis or hermit crab alpheid shrimp. They are both still doing well and it’s fun to watch them. The crab will tumble off rocks and send the little guy twirling he scrambles quickly to get back into the shell. I’m not sure what the shrimp does for the crab but I’m pretty sure the shrimp gets crumbs from the crabs messy eating. The shrimp is very hard to to photograph as he’s very tiny , maybe 2 cm long and constantly moving, but here is the best I’ve been able to do.
after a few days of observing him in my sump I noticed something moving around inside his shell. Then I realized it was a small shrimp. The shrimp lived inside the crabs shell and would pop out to the edge while the crab was eating. I hunted hi and low on the internet trying to Id the shrimp and finally , through desperation I blindly emailed a marine biologist at the University of Hawaii. He emailed me back and identified the shrimp as a Aretopsis amabilis or hermit crab alpheid shrimp. They are both still doing well and it’s fun to watch them. The crab will tumble off rocks and send the little guy twirling he scrambles quickly to get back into the shell. I’m not sure what the shrimp does for the crab but I’m pretty sure the shrimp gets crumbs from the crabs messy eating. The shrimp is very hard to to photograph as he’s very tiny , maybe 2 cm long and constantly moving, but here is the best I’ve been able to do.
Aretopsis amabilis Hermit Crab Alpheid Shrimp
Aretopsis amabilisis commonly referred to as Hermit Crab Alpheid Shrimp. Difficulty in the aquarium: There are no reports available yet that this animal has already been kept in captivity successfully. Toxicity: Toxic hazard unknown.
www.reeflex.net
Aretopsis amabilis Hermit Crab Alpheid Shrimp
Aretopsis amabilisis commonly referred to as Hermit Crab Alpheid Shrimp. Difficulty in the aquarium: There are no reports available yet that this animal has already been kept in captivity successfully. Toxicity: Toxic hazard unknown.
