Three new species of shrimp found in False Bay
The finds at Miller’s Point between Simon’s Town and Cape Point include one that cohabits with an octopus and another found inside empty urchin shells
Three new shrimp species with odd habitat preferences have been discovered on a 5.5km stretch of False Bay coastline. One lives with a rare hermit crab and has been named Heteromysis cancelli after the crab genus cancellus. Another‚ Heteromysis octopodis‚ cohabits with an octopus and points to the first known symbiotic relationship between a shrimp and a cephalopod. And the third — found inside empty urchin and gastropod shells — has been named Heteromysis fosteri after free-diving wildlife documentary film-maker and photographer Craig Foster. The finds‚ at Miller’s Point between Simon’s Town and Cape Point‚ were made by Foster and veteran marine biologist Charles Griffiths‚ of the University of Cape Town Marine Research Institute. They were reported in the journal ZooKeys. The new species‚ mostly bright red to orange with series of spots or stripes‚ differ from previously known species by colour pattern‚ eye shape and the patterns of spines on their legs and tails. Heteromysis fost...
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