Nudibranch

Phyllodesmium jakobsenae

Description:

This is one of my 'dream-encounter' for the 'mimicry-in-mimicry situation' even though I didn't realised it during the dive. Only noticed the Xenia Shrimp - Alcyonohippolyte commensalis on the cerata of the Phyllodesmium jakobsenae when going through my video footages a week after the dive! And luckily, I have just this one decent shot showing the Shrimp on the Nudibranch. This Phyllodesmium jakobsenae Nudibranch mimics its host the Xenia Corals and also feeds on them. The Xenia Shrimp can be found on the polyps of the Xenia Corals with similar colouration and markings/patterns, making them very difficult to find/see as they are very small, usually less than 1 cm in size.

Habitat:

Lives among Xenia corals

Species ID Suggestions

7 Comments

AlbertKang 4 years ago

Thanks, @LaraWhitlam :)

LaraWhitlam 4 years ago

Really beautiful!

AlbertKang 4 years ago

Thanks again, Machi :)

Machi 4 years ago

Wow! Awesome video! I was wondering what that shiny dot was in the photo.

Brian38 4 years ago

Thanks for pointing that out Albert! Incredible video!

AlbertKang 4 years ago

@Machi, do you see the 'shiny eyes' about 1 cm above the rhinopores of the Nudibranch? That's the eye of the Shrimp. It is resting on the cerata of the Nudibranch.

Check out my video footage of them here :

https://www.facebook.com/askkang/videos/...

It was only after reviewing my video footages a few days after the dive that I noticed the Shrimp and then only I reviewed my pics to see if I managed to get a decent shot of the Shrimp on the Nudibranch, unfortunately, it was not the best of focus on the Shrimp as I wasn't even aware it was there then.