Dancing Shrimp
It’s a dancing shrimp too. Not like the others. Nope. It has a pointy head. And it hid. And it moved away when I got close. Sneak up. Act like you are not paying it any attention. Ha! Try that underwater. I’m a big bubble blowing thing in a large wet suit. Yeah! I don’t think I fool anyone. And the bubbles make a hell of a racket underwater. Fish have ears. If they have ears, how do they pierce them. If not, how will I ever tell the boys from the girls. The shrimp here has something frilly on its body. I don’t know what it is except to point it out. The legs have color striations. And the eyes are on stalks. I’d think more lobster than shrimp. But it is just conjecture on my part. I see this thing and photograph. That’s a challenge. Suppose you were a marine biologist tasked with getting a specimen. Good (damn) luck!
Damn tiny! You would not notice it. I didn’t. My dive buddy was using a flashlight in the daytime dive. He shone it into every nook and cranny. It’s good to have friends with good equipment. Way better than a candle….
Dancing Shrimp
Really! That’s what they are named in the book. You see them on night dives. I am learning. My dive instructor was really impressed by my find. But then again we are relative amateurs to some of the expert photographers who are about.
No one tells you. They like to hide among the urchins not far from the shore. So there are not to hard to find. But they are hard to photograph. And because everyone wants to swim deep the shrimp are not easy because you get a minute or two to find and shoot them right about near the end of the dive.
They don’t like bright light (flashlights – duh!) so it they scurry when you shine on them. And the urchins are deadly dangerous. The spines go through gloves and wet suits like nothing. So do not touch the urchins. I know this because I did once upon a time. Trust me. You don’t want to touch an urchin. Otherwise the best way to see shrimp is to shine your light and it will reflect off their eyes. Red eye underwater!!! And that’s how you locate them. Then you sidle up without shining too much. Otherwise they scurry away. And then you try for a shot. I’m still working at it. It is, as they say, a proverbial work in progress. As for the dancing part, you go figure. They don’t.
Green Eyed Dancing Shrimp
These guys are tiny. The trick to finding them is to poke around under the coral and shine your light until you see a reflection. It’s the eyes reflecting back the light. Then as you approach, they tend to disappear. So you have to siddle up and hope it doesn’t duck. Did I tell you this is a hard shot?
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