Squat Urchin Shrimp

Image: Kevin Bryant
Gnathophylloides mineri

In the forest of spines, the teeny-tiny shrimp is king.

Veils From the Crypt

Video: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)

Cryptic monsters... undercover horrors... sleeper creepers... From the monsters under the bed to the ghosts in the attic, the vampire on the board of directors to the werewolf in the historical reenactment society, there's no getting away from them. Is your paperboy a ghoul? Is your sister-in-law a zombie? Are you absolutely sure you're not a fish-person?

Tube-building Amphipod

Hmmmm...

Looks like someone's got a leaky head. There're nightmares all over the place.

Knitting Shrimp

Image: Moorea Biocode

Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just settling down for some knitting?

Crabs get the prettiest homes

Image: Nick Hobgood

We landlubbers really get the raw end of the deal when it comes to symbiosis. We got parasites, all right. You can hardly walk for the mites, lice and flatworms clinging to every nook and cranny.

The Blues VI

Image: Bernard DUPONT
Corythaeola cristata

It's Blue Monday! Mathematically proven to be the most depressing day of the year by qualified PR professionals who believe the best way to defeat it is with a holiday package bought from their clients. But there's no defeating it. It looms. It impends. It soon comes to a dark night of the soul near YOU! And there are no holidays from one's own soul.

Surgical Precision

Image: Kirkby

Crabs are extremely picky eaters.

Attack of the Giant Snip-snip

It was a close thing, but this jelly-legs just barely escaped from the enormous snipper of a giant snip-snip.

A Whole Lot of Leg

Image: NOAA

You might think that the strange thing about this deep sea Hermit Crab is that it's walking around with a giant flower on its arse...

But that's because you haven't seen it walk yet!

Munnopsis

Ah, the deep sea... It gives you wings!

Lophogastrid

Image: Alexander Semenov

It can be difficult to describe things you've never seen before. Just think of the medieval bestiaries. Beavers have fish tails, don't they? Rhinos are covered in ornate steel plate, aren't they? Elephants... Where do you even begin with elephants?

Big Stick Diplomacy

Walk softly...

Video: Inner Space Center

Drag a big stick behind you.

Hairy Shrimp

Phycocaris simulans

It's a tiny shrimp...

Zebra Crab

Image: prilfish

It's a tiny, underwater zebra! Shaped like a crab!

The Blues V

Image: Hiyashi Haka
Lamprotornis caudatus

It's time for the blues! Either that or I'm a week late... Oh dear. Failure upon failure! Blues upon blues! Well, I guess it makes sense, really. Blues are eternal, after all. Haven't you heard? It's blues all the way down! At least on this page...

Halimeda Crab

Huenia heraldica

It's a plant! It's a crab! It's...

Mr. Pinch

Image: OCEANA

I miss Mr. Tickle.

:(

Spanner Crab

Uh oh... Looks like someone just threw a Spanner in the works!

Tickle of the Crab's Claw

Getting tickled in the belly is bad enough as it is. The INDIGNITY!

Tentacle Heaven

Image: Nick Hobgood

Now THIS is a Decorator Crab who knows what decoration is all about! Forget your wallpaper and papier mache dragon heads. Forget even about the lumps of sponge so many other Decorator Crabs swathe their bodies in. Nope. It's all about the tentacles. It's ALL about the tentacles!

By covering itself head to claw in hydroid polyps this crab not only looks good, it also gains protection since all those tentacles happen to be bristling with stinging cells. And it's pretty good for the polyps, too, as they get ferried around to all the best feeding areas their faithful mount can find.

It's a match made in heaven. Tentacle Heaven. And it's ALL about Tentacle Heaven.