''Ancylomenes magnificus'', also known as the magnificent anemone shrimp, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

cleaner shrimp Cleaner shrimp is a common name for a number of swimming decapod crustaceans, that clean other organisms of parasites. They belong to any of three families, Hippolytidae (including the Pacific cleaner shrimp, ''Lysmata amboinensis''), Palaem ...

common to the Western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

at depths of . They are commonly found on

stony coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a ...

, ''

Catalaphyllia ''Catalaphyllia'' is a monotypic genus of stony coral in the family Euphylliidae from the western Pacific Ocean. It is represented by a single species, ''Catalaphyllia jardinei'', commonly known as elegance coral (or wonder coral, ridge coral). I ...

'' and the

sea anemone Sea anemones are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates of the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classifi ...

, '' Dofleinia armata.''

Morphology

As an

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

, ''A. magnificus'', is segmented and

bilaterally symmetrical Symmetry in biology refers to the symmetry observed in organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. External symmetry can be easily seen by just looking at an organism. For example, take the face of a human being which has a pla ...

. The body of the shrimp contains a hard external skeleton, called an exoskeleton, made of

chitin Chitin ( C8 H13 O5 N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is probably the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cellulose); an estimated 1 billion tons of chit ...

which periodically molts by a process called

ecdysis Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticle in many invertebrates of the clade Ecdysozoa. Since the cuticle of these animals typically forms a largely inelastic exoskeleton, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed. The remna ...

. ''A. magnificus'', has a compressed body composed of a

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

, containing a head and a

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...

attached to an elongated abdomen. It has five pairs of pereiopods, two pair of antennae, a mandible, and three pairs of maxillipeds. Most of ''A. magnificus'' have a transparent body, except on the

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

and segments of the abdomen, which have bands of white specks outlined in red. The tail and the hump on the abdomen are also white.

Reproduction

As other shrimps in the family

Palaemonidae Palaemonidae is a family of shrimp in the order Decapoda. Many species are carnivores that eat small invertebrates, and can be found in any aquatic habitat except the deep sea. One significant genus is ''Macrobrachium'', which contains commerc ...

, ''A. magnificus'', are

gonochoric In biology, gonochorism is a sexual system where there are only two sexes and each individual organism is either male or female. The term gonochorism is usually applied in animal species, the vast majority of which are gonochoric. Gonochorism c ...

species. After molting, the female's exoskeleton is soft. During this time, the male is able to transfer a

spermatophore A spermatophore or sperm ampulla is a capsule or mass containing spermatozoa created by males of various animal species, especially salamanders and arthropods, and transferred in entirety to the female's ovipore during reproduction. Spermatophores ...

to the female's exoskeleton. This allows the female to produce a large amount of eggs, which she carries under her abdomen. The female carries the eggs until they hatch. The eggs hatch into larvae form and then go through a series of transformations to become adult shrimps. A. ''magnificus'' grows up to 2.5 cm (1 in.) in size.

Feeding and digestion

Shrimps are typically

scavenger Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding b ...

s, feeding on

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

at the bottom of the ocean. Other shrimps are

filter feeder Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...

s, which allows them to eat small food particles. ''A. magnificus'' as part of the subphylum

Crustacea Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

, possesses a mouth to ingest food, which then passes through to be broken down by

ous teeth that line the stomach. The stomach is connected to digestive glands, which secrete

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

s that absorb the nutrients of the food. Lastly, the digestion ends in the anus.

Relationship with its environment

As with many shrimps of the Infraorder Caridea, cleaner shrimps have shown a

symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

relationships with sponges, cnidarians, mollusks, fish, and other species. These relationships, in most cases, can be seen as mutualistic because cleaner shrimps provide their services, such as cleaning services and nitrogen excretion, while the other species provide the cleaner shrimp protection from

predators Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

and sometimes a food source. In these types of relationships, both species work together to benefit one another. Some cleaner shrimps, like, ''A. magnificus,'' are relatively small and vulnerable to live by themselves, therefore, they need other organisms to live, in like sea anemones or stony corals.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3932081 Palaemonoidea Crustaceans of the Pacific Ocean Crustaceans described in 1979