Anker's Whip Coral Shrimp

Pontonides ankeri

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Palaemonidae
Genus: Pontonides
Species: Pontonides ankeri

Anker's whip coral shrimp (Pontonides ankeri) is a tiny shrimp that lives on whip corals and closely matches its host's colour. Its body is often marked with bands that copy the coral's polyps.

It spends its whole life on a single whip coral, usually as a pair, and feeds on mucus and small particles from its host.

In the Philippines it is found on wire and whip corals on slopes and walls, and needs a careful look along the coral to spot.