After few weeks of absence… And following our blog series: spot a coral, spot a critter, we will check the cute little coral bubble shrimp… It’s a fav of UW photographer and it’s pretty easy to spot, if you know where to look at.
In the bubble coral family, there are basically 3 species of corals which are very easy to differentiate and recognise. They are all either brown or green colour. Some of them are literally fluorescent green.Plerogyra sinuosa是最著名的,有很大的气泡,是厚实的flabello-meandroid骨骼。骨骼宽阔,有很大的明显隔壁,宽阔的山谷将衬里的息肉分开。有2种类型Plerogyra sinuosa,一个带有非常大的鸡蛋形状气泡,一个带有较小的滴状气泡。我们还没有为什么他们可以产生2种不同类型的囊泡,相互临近。
Plerogyra symplex,也有很大的气泡,但是骨骼正在分支,这使得与另外两个的区别很容易分开。
The last one is the Rice Bubble CoralPhysogyra licheinsteini, that have the smallest bubble, a massive flabello-meandroid skeleton and no valleys to separate the polyps.
During the day, the bubbles are extended, as they are used to culture in optimal conditions Zooxanthellae symbiotic algae under intense sun light. During the night, the bubbles are retracted and usually the coral is into feeding mode, with all the tentacles extended to catch as much food as possible.
来自该属的虾家族virare exclusively associated with corals, mainly of the Euphyllidae family. The speciesvirphillipinensis,vircolemani和virlongidactylus仅与这些气泡珊瑚有关。
Usually a quick inspection of the coral polyps, allow to spot the shrimp. Look for some slightly deflated vesicles, with a pair of purple or red antennae sticking out. Often the shrimps live in pairs among the corals. if the vesicles are deflated, then the shrimps are really easy to spot, they often stay in a small cavity inside the skeleton. If the Coral is small, then they’ll be sitting right in the middle. If the coral is a big head, usually on the lower side of the coral, the least exposed to predators. usually the shrimp stresses the corals, so the tissues are retracted and even the skeleton can be exposed at this particular spot… But usually the vesicles cover the area pretty well.
Like all coral associated shrimps, the limit between, parasitism and mutual symbiosis, is pretty thin. Probably that the shrimp, in exchange of food and shelter, helps fight off some small parasites, such as flat worms, coral eating nudies, some sponges or algae that would compete with the corals. or even clean the coral off any detritus, sand…
virphilippinensisis the most common and can be found in all the Indo-pacific area. It’s entirely transparent but some thin purple lines along the all the legs and articulation. A Blood vessel is often obvious through the back, and all internal organs can be seen through the completely transparent body. Developing eggs can also be spotted on the bigger females. Eyes are always obvious in these species, they are white and black, seating on top of a stalk, lined by a blood vessel, feeding them.
vircolemaniis a bit more difficult to find, occurring in North Sulawesi and the Philippines. It’s very similar toV. philippinensis,除了只有腿和尾巴上的关节是紫色的,所以它们缺少紫色线。其余的都是相似的。
Vir Longidactylus,最难以捉摸,很难找到。像其他成员一样,它主要是透明的,在腹部,腿部和天线的中央有红线。眼睛之间的黄色是黄色的,可以掩饰它们。绝对是Vir的圣杯!
Some other species of Vir exist such as Vir euphyllius that lives among Euphyllia corals…