Even though I’m starting to worry that perhaps my eyesight isn’t what it was, it’s still not too bad. I am still in awe of the tiny things that our guides find on a regular basis, but I was pretty pleased with one shrimp I saw this week.
Though not the smallest critter, the Translucent Gorgonian Shrimp are fairly invisible, as they are almost completely see-through.
I was swimming past a lovely bit of soft coral, looking out for something out of place, as you do when diving in Lembeh. I saw a couple of these Translucent Shrimp and was about to swim on when something got my attention, something that seemed a little unusual.
One of the shrimp had a white looking stripe along it’s body. As it was different to the shrimp next door I set-up my camera to I could have a closer look. i thought it was probably just it’s intestines, but I didn’t know for sure.
As I started to get closer and closer I started to notice that the white line was behaving rather oddly. It looked like it was moving around!! It was extremely odd and really rather freaky, as it seemed to have a large tapeworm inside it. Poor thing!! Though it didn’t seem to have, at this stage, any adverse effect on the shrimp, as it behaved quite normally.
A quick check with my internet marine experts confirmed that it is probably some sort of fluke (tapeworm) living inside the shrimp….and for me it was yet another wonderfully bizarre surprise form Lembeh.
