Hitchhiker

[coralbabies]

Picked up a new acro today and found this little fellow. Does anyone know what he is? He is about 1/2" long from the tip of his tail to the end of his longest claw.

 

[SnowManSnow]

if he was actually IN the accro, I would call it a commensal accro crab of some sort, but I haven't seen one just like that. I have one, but hes white witha black band across his face.

B

 

[LeslieH1]

It's a female Coralliocaris shrimp. There are several species and without a better picture I can't tell which one it is. Like acro crabs they are obligate symbionts of acropora & related corals.

My friend Art has a good image of one species here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/243275702/

 

[coralbabies]

Thanks for the id. I have a lousy camera for close in shots and she is so very tiny. She was placed back into the colony. In all of the coral I've obtained over the years, this is the first commensal shrimp that I've seen.