Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott
October 17, 2011
I recently wrote about an armchair-size coral head I named Fuller Brush Rock after the dozens of bristly shrimps I found clinging to its top. The striped, 2- to 3-inch-long shrimp in fur coats hung there for weeks. One day they were gone and I never saw them again.
Unless the shrimps left inside a fish’s stomach, I don’t believe my furry friends went far, because reef shrimps would rather walk than swim. I like to think that rather than becoming a meal, my shrimps came to their senses and went into hiding.
It’s odd that this gang remained exposed for so long, because nearly every meat-eater in the ocean dines on shrimps. Also, these reef shrimps are nocturnal. They hide in crevices during the day and emerge at night to forage. As with most shrimps, Fuller Brush shrimps eat anything they can find, plant or animal, dead or alive.
I had an aha! moment last week when in a crack of Fuller Brush Rock I found a striking green shrimp with yellow spots and black-and-white striped legs. The shrimp was similar in shape to another holed-up shrimp I had spotted days earlier, but that one was red and speckled white.
From the photo I took, blurry but good enough for ID purposes, I discovered that both the green and red shrimps were Fuller Brush males. Only the females of this species bear the brown bristles that make their bodies look fuzzy and their front legs resemble bottle brushes.
The official common name for these creatures is marble shrimp, scientific name: Saron marmoratus. The species is widespread throughout the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. In 2007 Tehran researchers discovered, for the first time, this marble shrimp species off the coast of Iran.
You might think someone would have noticed these stunning creatures in Iranian waters before 2007, but that’s easier said than done. Female, male and juvenile marble shrimps are dissimilar in body characteristics, and individuals often vary in color. In 1918 a biologist wrote of Saron marmoratus, “The coloration of living specimens is very wonderful, resembling that of a rich Turkey carpet.”
As you might imagine, these colorful shrimps are popular aquarium pets.
Marble shrimps are common in Hawaii’s waters, but since they’re nocturnal you usually have to peek into holes to see them during the day. If you do this, though, remember that moray eels also like holes.
Internet photos of marbled shrimps are so colorful they’re worth the time to check out. Google the words “Saron marmoratus.” One of the first photos that come up was taken by Hawaii biologist Keoki Stender in a tide pool of Kaupo Beach Park across from Sea Life Park. The shrimp is a stunning turquoise.
When I emailed marine field guide author John Hoover about our past encounter with the shrimps on Fuller Brush Rock, he remembered it well. “I wonder, though,” he wrote, “how many people remember the Fuller Brush man?”
Good point. Maybe we should update our nickname to Turkish rug shrimp.