Halmahera crustacean

Hi everyone,

Just returned from an interesting trip to Halmahera in Indonesia. Found a few critters that I was unable to identify and was hoping someone can point me in the right direction with this crustacean.

About 1.5cm long and found on some soft coral.

Thanks for any help,

Adam

I should probably add this critter as well...

Incredibly small, less than 1cm.

Cheers,

Adam

No idea

Which boat were you on? Find some good spots?

We used Blue Dragon 2.

Unfortunately a lot was bombed out but there were good coral patches occasionally and sporadic critter encounters.

Rest of my images are up on Flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambroadbent...57624271221080/

Hi Adam,

some nice images there from an interesting locale.

The first Shrimp looks like Conchodytes tridacnae. No idea on the 2nd specimen.

Cheers,

Jim.

Hi Adam,

some nice images there from an interesting locale.

 

The first Shrimp looks like Conchodytes tridacnae. No idea on the 2nd specimen.

 

 

Cheers,

Jim.

Looks like a good shout on the Conchodytes, Jim. Thanks!

Looks like it could be but then what's it doing outside of it's clam? Conchodytes tridacnae is an obligate commensal of giant clams.

The other one is another obligate commensal by the name of Pontonia katoi.

Not too many good photos of either of these and these are lovely.

Looks like it could be but then what's it doing outside of it's clam? Conchodytes tridacnae is an obligate commensal of giant clams.

 

The other one is another obligate commensal by the name of Pontonia katoi.

 

Not too many good photos of either of these and these are lovely.

Thanks Leslie for the IDs. Very kind.

Not sure what was happening with the Conchodutes tridacnae. The bit of soft coral it was on was right next to a barrel sponge but I dont recall any giant clams in the vicinity.