Humpback Soft Coral Shrimp

Hippolyte dossena

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Hippolytidae
Genus: Hippolyte
Species: Hippolyte dossena

The humpback soft coral shrimp (Hippolyte dossena) is a tiny, hunched shrimp that lives on soft corals and matches their colour and texture. Its strongly humped back gives it its common name.

Described in 2011 (originally in the genus Alcyonohippolyte), it is usually under 1 cm long. It clings to its soft coral host and feeds on mucus and particles, with knobs and colour patches that mimic the coral's polyps.

In the Philippines it lives on soft corals on reef slopes, where it is a challenging but rewarding find for macro photographers.