vayda on Nostr: 🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨 While many species of pistol shrimps are found in a ...
🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨
While many species of pistol shrimps are found in a wide variety of habitats, only a few are commonly kept in aquariums. These are species of the genus Alpheus. A. bellulus, also known as the tiger pistol shrimp, is perhaps the most frequently kept species. It has a white body with complex brown or reddish-brown markings. Some individuals have purple markings on the legs.
The partnership between pistol shrimps and gobies is a good example of commensalism, where both parties in the relationship benefit. The goby benefits from the shrimp's digging and construction skills, having access to a well-built burrow. Pistol shrimps have poor eyesight, and they use gobies as an early warning system to detect predators.
Gobies tend to hover just outside the shared burrow, catching passing zooplankton or small benthic invertebrates. In many cases the shrimps maintain contact with the gobies by using their long antennae, and the gobies signal to the shrimps using specific fin flicks. Some species of goby also appear to feed their shrimps, spitting food into the burrow, and even without such deliberate actions it's possible that the shrimps may feed on fragments of food that the gobies drop.
While many species of pistol shrimps are found in a wide variety of habitats, only a few are commonly kept in aquariums. These are species of the genus Alpheus. A. bellulus, also known as the tiger pistol shrimp, is perhaps the most frequently kept species. It has a white body with complex brown or reddish-brown markings. Some individuals have purple markings on the legs.
The partnership between pistol shrimps and gobies is a good example of commensalism, where both parties in the relationship benefit. The goby benefits from the shrimp's digging and construction skills, having access to a well-built burrow. Pistol shrimps have poor eyesight, and they use gobies as an early warning system to detect predators.
Gobies tend to hover just outside the shared burrow, catching passing zooplankton or small benthic invertebrates. In many cases the shrimps maintain contact with the gobies by using their long antennae, and the gobies signal to the shrimps using specific fin flicks. Some species of goby also appear to feed their shrimps, spitting food into the burrow, and even without such deliberate actions it's possible that the shrimps may feed on fragments of food that the gobies drop.