Egg Shell Shrimp

Hamopontonia fungicola

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Palaemonidae
Genus: Hamopontonia
Species: Hamopontonia fungicola

The egg shell shrimp (Hamopontonia fungicola) is a tiny, pale shrimp that lives on mushroom corals, its smooth whitish body resembling a fragment of egg shell. Fine coloured speckles and translucent legs complete its camouflage against the coral's tissue.

Described in 2012, it reaches only around 1 cm in length. As its scientific name suggests, it is associated with free-living mushroom corals (Fungiidae), where it clings among the septa and tentacles and feeds on mucus and small particles.

Mushroom corals are common on sandy reef slopes in the Philippines, and checking them carefully can turn up this delicate shrimp. Patience and a good macro lens are needed to spot it.