25th edition of Marine Life monthly post. Marine Life post published every 19th of the month. It aims to share information on marine life species and to promote their conservation. All images here are taken by Indah Susanti unless stated otherwise.

I did not make up the shrimp’s name. It is called as Sexy Anemone Shrimp (Thor amboinensis) because of its body movement that sways its abdomen back and forth, just like dancing. To be honest, this species is not easy to get their pictures of, as they keep “dancing”. I don’t even think they ever stop dancing.

Sexy Anemone Shrimp

Also being called as the Squat Shrimp, the shrimp is relatively small with length 13 millimeters.  It can be found in Indo-Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, usually on sea anemone or mushroom corals. The shrimps and their hosts, the sea anemone or the corals, are forming the commensal relationship. The shrimps are benefitting from the protection provided by the anemone’s tentacles (source), but they do not give any benefits to their hosts in return. They are sort of like free-riders. They are there but not bothering the hosts.

Sexy Anemone Shrimp

If you wonder how the shrimps are performing their “dance’, the following is a YouTube video of them “dancing” on the sea anemone, their host. Do you find the Sexy Shrimp name suit them?