Anker's Whip Coral Shrimp

Pontonides ankeri is a shrimp species from the Palaemonidae family.

Description

It has a translucent body with from white transverse bands and a white line between the eyes. An orange tinge is present inside the thorax. Its tail is also white. Its thin and long legs are white as well as its long pair of antennas. Depending on the whip coral on which it is found, it may be tinged with yellow and translucent or even orange-brown rather than translucent.

It is similar in size, appearance and habitat to Dasycaris zanzibarica. The most easily recognized difference is the more smoothly rounded carapace behind the eyes in P. ankeri as opposed to the sharp point in the same place on the other species.

Distribution

Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to Hawaii

Habitat

They are found, usually in pairs, on the whip coral Cirrhipathes on lagoon, pinnacle and seaward reefs. They feed on parasites, algae and plankton.