Saron shrimp

Hi,

I've been lusting after saron shrimp ever since I saw my first pic of one. Finally got a decent shot while on a night dive near Halmahera. Coral rubble about 20 ft. deep. I know there are a lot of "undescribed species" and this guy isn't in any of the books I checked. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Phil

Hi Phil - well, you've hit the jackpot. That's a very rarely seen Saron known only from Indonesia. It's listed as Saron sp 3 in Debelius' Crustacea Guide of the World. At the time he wrote the book it had yet to be collected or described. Good eye and good photo!

Thanks Leslie!

Phil

great photo, those guys are impossible to shoot!

Mike

Leslie, is this a more common saron shrimp? I found it on the south shore of New Britain Island, PNG.

More common but still undescribed. It's listed as Saron sp 2 in Debelius' crustacea book. I checked & couldn't find any recent papers on it. There are several undescribed species in the genus. Some of them have been shoe-horned into S. marmoratus or S. neglectus because there's some similarity in the coloration. The genus is in great need of revision but since some of these species have only been photographed, never collected, it will be hard to do.