All you can get shrimp

[icechip]

I had an interesting occurrence this morning as I cleaned the bottom of a 34 foot sailboat at the local town dock. The cleaning went fine, but when I swam in to the boat ramp to exit, I noticed lots of Skeleton Shrimp all over me and my gear. And I mean A LOT! There must have been thousands of them. I'd encountered them before, brushing up against a mooring line and such but had never seen such a profusion like this, especially all over me! I think I had brushed up against the floats on the dock with my tank and back while scrubbing the side of the boat. They were likely clustered on the floats and must have been dislodged in huge clumps to then snag on me. They crawled all over me, face included as I exited the water. Kind of skeeved me out. I brushed off as many as I could right then, but also washed hundreds more off the suit and gear back at home with freshwater. Now they're fertilizing my back yard. Anyways, always something interesting with a dive!

 

[divad]

Thanks for the heebe-jeebes.....Egads!

 

[tursiops]

And here I thought they were only a tropical thing.....

 

[Karpie]

I had a smaller scale version of your experience after a recreational dive this morning! I'd made a beeline for the restroom, so I didn't notice them until I was half doffed in the stall. Only the urgency of the call of nature kept me cool in the face of all that writhing, lol.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Yeah, those things!
We have those here on the west coast too.
I have done the exact same thing you were doing, cleaning boat bottoms and they pack everything full, zipper flaps, neck seals, gloves, everywhere, millions of them. They are worse at certain times of the year and they are especially bad on a boat bottom the has been neglected for a number of months or years. They live in the sponges.
They hang on with their claws and wont let go. Fresh water seems to help make them let go. I usually try to rinse most of them off right after the dive on the dock. A good soaking at home in my rinse tank gets the rest. They do start to stink if you leave any on your suit to rot.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Eww

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Eww

Boil them and make a bouillonaise, mmmm.
Then use that for a noodle bowl and add some uni.
Could grab handfuls and deep fry them up then use them to garnish salads, mmm yummy

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Boil them and make a bouillonaise, mmmm.
Then use that for a noodle bowl and add some uni.
Could grab handfuls and deep fry them up then use them to garnish salads, mmm yummy

Like bonchon!

 

[icechip]

Haven't seen as many since that summer of 2021. Maybe like when there's a crap-ton of acorns one season and not so many the next?

 

[BoltSnap]

Now, this icky and scary. Makes nice start for a bad creepy movie