Islandbound 1 Posted July 30, 2007 This week I went on a boatdive and ran into a jellyfish with what appeared to be a shrimp living inside of it. As I moved around the 6 inch or so jelly the shrimp would move around the jelly and even went to the other side of it to get away from me. After I left the jelly for awhile I found another jelly of the same species and it also had what appears to be a shrimp living on it. The water was 60 feet deep or so in the China Sea off of Tokasheki Island. Do shrimp actually live on jellyfish? Sorry for picture quality but to me at least jellies in bright water are really hard to shoot in focus and I kept trying to get something behind it for contrast... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ATJ 1 Posted July 31, 2007 I'm not sure about the shrimp, but I think the "jellyfish" is a ctenophore. I've never heard of shrimp living inside them. Cool photographs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Islandbound 1 Posted July 31, 2007 I looked up Ctenephore, thanks for the clue! The shrimp was very hard to see but in the time I spent with it the shrimp definately not only moved on the outer edge but also went up under the bell into the interior of the jelly. I took this photo at the same location Wednesday and I think this is the classic Ctenephore from what I was able to read... Contrasted against some reef shelf/waves which "bent" the light enough for the autofocus to get a good lock... Forgot one! This also shows the 8 lines of the Ctenephore from the web info I could find, does this look like a Ctenephore to you? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Leslie 0 Posted July 31, 2007 Yup, those are all ctenophores and really nice shots, too. The contrasted one is especially good - you almost never see one against that kind of background and so clear! Crustaceans are very common hitchhikers on all kinds of jellies. Crabs, shrimps, amphipods, other pods, juveniles have all been reported and some have very particular associations. For example, phronimid amphipods hollow out salps (pelagic tunicates) and live inside them and juvenile Cancer crabs are frequently found on jellies in the northeast Pacific. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
