There were a whole load of crustaceans around in Tulamben. Considering that we hardly did any night dives, which is when they typically come out to play, it is again a testament to the great diving at Tulamben that we saw so manyof them.
Here’s a brightly coloured coral crab under its anemone house. It’s a wonder it doesn’t get eaten that easily, its colour is so vivid.
Even more brightly coloured were the peacock mantis shrimp, its inquisitive eyes jutting out quizzically.
It’s when the mantis shrimp is in side profile that one understands why it’s called that, for its tail has the pretty colours of a peacock.
We revisited startling specimens such as this orang utan crab, something you wouldn’t typically expect of something underwater, let along a crab.
It’s almost impossible to bring one of these into sharp focus, as it’s so hard to tell whether the fuzz is caught sharply or not.
There were also plenty of shrimp, like this imperial shrimp. It’s amazing how transparent its body is.
I guess the transparency is how it camouflages itself, especially when young. Check out how the young one is so much harder to spot than the full-size one.
There’s another type of mantis shrimp, the smashing mantis shrimp that hides in its hole waiting for unsuspecting prey to go past.
Here, I admire the bravery of these hingeback shrimp. They’re so close to the smashing mantis shrimp’s home that it’s impossible for the bigger one to catch the smaller ones. Nothing like being too close for comfort here!
Then again, these little shrimp are so tiny it’s hard to see how they’d make a dent in any sizeable creature’s stomach.
Still, they are very pretty and it’s fun to get in close to catch a good shot of this attractive orange shrimp.
One of my favourites, as regular readers would know, is the harlequin shrimp and again Tulamben didn’t disappoint. We saw this adorable pair posing as orchids.
It’s really cute how they strutted and posed about.
There were also some lobsters and these were incredibly well-camouflaged amongst the featherstars. Check out the yellow one here…
… and the red one here.
It’s hard to believe how sharp Wayan’s eyes were in spotting these.
Easier to spot but much harder to spot were the goby shrimp, who spent their days pushing sand out of burrows guarded by gobies. At any movement at all, the goby would dart back into the hole, and of course the shrimp would dart in at the first twitch of the goby’s tail.
Last of all in this series of crustaceans is this shell of sorts. I have no idea what it is. If anyone can identify it, I’d be really grateful.
eat. drink. cook. travel. 