Ocellated Sawblade Shrimp

Tozeuma lanceolatum

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Hippolytidae
Genus: Tozeuma
Species: Tozeuma lanceolatum

The ocellated sawblade shrimp (Tozeuma lanceolatum) is a long, slender shrimp with a lance-like rostrum that lives among sea whips and seagrass. Its body is usually translucent white, green or pink, sometimes with small eye-like spots.

It reaches around 4-5 cm and aligns its body with the stem or blade it sits on, becoming almost invisible. It feeds on small particles and tiny invertebrates and moves slowly to avoid being noticed.

In the Philippines it is found in seagrass beds and on sea whips on sandy slopes. It is a close relative of the sawblade shrimp and is just as easy to overlook.

Photo: Dan Schofield, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist