Sawblade shrimp
Tozeuma armatum
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Subphylum
- Crustacea
- Class
- Malacostraca
- Order
- Decapoda
- Family
- Hippolytidae
- Genus
- Tozeuma
- Species
- Tozeuma armatum
The sawblade shrimp (Tozeuma armatum) is a long, slender shrimp with a serrated, saw-like rostrum and back that lets it disappear among sea whips and seagrass.
Reaching around 5 cm, it is usually translucent white, pink or purple to match its host, and it aligns its body with the stem it sits on to stay invisible to predators.
Sawblade shrimp are found on sea whips, black coral and seagrass in the Philippines, and are a rewarding find for photographers who search slowly along the stems.
Photo: Dan Schofield, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist