Algae shrimp

Phycocaris sp.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Hippolytidae
Genus: Phycocaris
Species: Phycocaris sp.

The algae shrimp (Phycocaris sp.) is a tiny green shrimp that looks almost exactly like a tuft of the algae it lives on, making it one of the hardest crustaceans to find.

Only a few millimetres long, its body is covered in green, hair-like growths that match the surrounding algae, and it sways with the water to complete the disguise. It is distinct from the brown common hairy shrimp, though the two are closely related.

We have found this little shrimp on algae-covered rubble in the Philippines, a reminder of just how much hidden macro life lives on sandy slopes around the country.