Everyone knows the harlequin shrimp (Hymenocera elegans or H. pictus). It is one of the most ornate invertebrates on the planet and has the somewhat ghoulish habit of slowly eating sea stars. But do you know about the harlequin’s kin, Phyllognathia ceratophthalma (both shrimps are in the family Hymenoceridae).
This odd shrimp, which is known in the aquarium trade as the Bongo bumblebee shrimp or the spiny tiger shrimp, is rarely seen in the wild or in the aquarium trade.