Skeleton shrimp
Caprella sp.
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Subphylum
- Crustacea
- Class
- Malacostraca
- Order
- Amphipoda
- Family
- Caprellidae
- Genus
- Caprella
- Species
- Caprella sp.
Skeleton shrimp are tiny, stick-thin amphipods that look more like alien insects than shrimp, swaying back and forth as they cling to hydroids, algae and sea fans.
Despite the name, they are not true shrimp but amphipods, usually only 1-3 cm long. They grip their perch with their hind legs and use their large, claw-like front appendages to snatch plankton and tiny particles from the water, constantly bobbing in a praying-mantis-like motion.
Skeleton shrimp are common but easily overlooked on muck and reef slopes in the Philippines, where macro divers find them swarming over hydroids and sea whips.