Female Yellow Skeleton Shrimp (Caprella sp.) with Hatched Juveniles - Amed, Bali, Indonesia
Commonly known as skeleton shrimp, caprellids are tiny marine crustaceans, known for their elongated, hairlike body structure, which allows them to camouflage very efficiently in the fine filaments of marine vegetation as well as on other small predatory animals.
Skeleton shrimps can only mate when the female is between the new and hardened exoskeletons, after molting (ecdysis), as this is the only time when it is physically possible for the male to fertilize the female.
The female skeleton shrimp broods the eggs in a transparent egg pouch on her abdomen.
The gestation period is quite short, with juveniles hatching after four days, but they remain in the female’s brood pouch for about 12 additional hours until their limbs are coordinated.
Once they leave the pouch, the juvenile skeleton shrimps will cling to their mother’s body, scraping microscopic organisms from its surface for food, as seen in this clip sequence.
After a week or so, the female shrimp will actively remove the juveniles from her body – the juvenile skeleton shrimps will then go to attach themselves to hydroids or vegetation and fend for themselves...
A Field of Blue / @afieldofblue
Filmed on a Panasonic Lumix LX10 in a Nauticam housing, 4K, 30fps
Music base: "Solstice" by @Bjork
Equipment: Panasonic Lumix LX10 in a Nauticam housing, AOI UCL-09 closeup lens, Inon UCL-165M67 closeup lens, Backscatter Macromate Mini closeup lens - Backscatter MW 4300 video light + OS-10 optical snoot, two Archon D11V2 video lights, homemade quadripod
cheers!
ben
Commonly known as skeleton shrimp, caprellids are tiny marine crustaceans, known for their elongated, hairlike body structure, which allows them to camouflage very efficiently in the fine filaments of marine vegetation as well as on other small predatory animals.
Skeleton shrimps can only mate when the female is between the new and hardened exoskeletons, after molting (ecdysis), as this is the only time when it is physically possible for the male to fertilize the female.
The female skeleton shrimp broods the eggs in a transparent egg pouch on her abdomen.
The gestation period is quite short, with juveniles hatching after four days, but they remain in the female’s brood pouch for about 12 additional hours until their limbs are coordinated.
Once they leave the pouch, the juvenile skeleton shrimps will cling to their mother’s body, scraping microscopic organisms from its surface for food, as seen in this clip sequence.
After a week or so, the female shrimp will actively remove the juveniles from her body – the juvenile skeleton shrimps will then go to attach themselves to hydroids or vegetation and fend for themselves...
A Field of Blue / @afieldofblue Filmed on a Panasonic Lumix LX10 in a Nauticam housing, 4K, 30fps Music base: "Solstice" by @Bjork Equipment: Panasonic Lumix LX10 in a Nauticam housing, AOI UCL-09 closeup lens, Inon UCL-165M67 closeup lens, Backscatter Macromate Mini closeup lens - Backscatter MW 4300 video light + OS-10 optical snoot, two Archon D11V2 video lights, homemade quadripod cheers!
ben
