There they were, at least 60 of them, males , females and juveniles, all sitting, flitting, swaying, rocking and swimming here and there, all totally absorbed in their daily routines.
Living in the Frogspawn Coral Euphyllia paradivisa, the Grand Coral Shrimp Periclimenes grandidens is common around the islands dive sites. (25mm)
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Quite possibly the most beautiful commensal coral/anemone shrimp in the Indo-pacific (not even rare) and yet even though divers had been photographing and observing them for over 40 years they remained a mystery. Why?
Because they appeared common everybody assumed they were known and no one bothered to check them out, or even observe that although they had been appearing in dive magazines for 25 years, nobody ever identified them by more than Periclimenes sp. or Periclimenes sp. No. 5 or, No.6 or whatever.
Identifying living shrimps in their natural habitat ( especially some commensal shrimps that live on multiple hosts) can proove very frustrating, unless one can establish a benchmark by having specimens and a range of images to go by.
The Commensal Shrimp Periclimenes commensalis lives on a range of soft coral hosts and has several patterns.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Photographed on another species of soft coral this Commensal Shrimp Periclimenes commensalis is exactly the same species, though just on image alone, it might appear different in colour, BUT the pattern is similar.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
A great deal of work in describing and identifying many new commensal shrimps had been accomplished by Dr. Sandy Bruce of the Queensland Museum (now retired) over the 40 years he has been specializing in them.
Numbers of new shrimps have also been described by several Japanese specialists. Despite this, dozens of species remained unknown and this fact was at last realized and a resurgence in commensal shrimp taxonomy has appeared over the last few years.
In an effort to have many of my earlier discoveries recognised and named and my new discoveries described, I had been concentrating on helping to establish the commensal shrimp fauna at Loloata Island.
Loloata Island Dive Resort has had over 2500 species of marine life photographed and recorded from its waters, including many new species.
Much of my earlier work had been in conjunction with the Motupore Research Station at Bootless Bay, Port Morseby, Papua New Guinea and they were the recipients of my Photographic Fauna Survey listings since 1980.
So far we have managed to record over 2500 species of marine life from the waters around Loloata Island.
With this on my mind I approached this very common , widespread shrimp species living in frogspawn coral ( Euphyllia paradivisa ) photographed them several more times and proceeded to collect one of the largest ( most mature ) specimens.
Living in the Frogspawn Coral Euphyllia paradivisa there may be over 60 specimens of the Grand Coral Shrimp Periclimenes grandidens present on a single host. They also inhabit Mushroom Corals.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Concentrating as I was to get the shots from every angle and to capture the shrimp I had not noticed Yoshi the dive guide/instructor watching over my shoulder.
No sooner than I had I got the shrimp into the collecting tube than she was scolding me. Later on I found out that it was her pet shrimp ( of the whole 60) and one she used to show all the divers during their safety stop.
I apologized and explained that there were another 59 specimens left on the host but there was no consoling her. Every trip for the next 5 years I was reminded of my indiscretion in stealing her pet shrimp.
Only found on the Black Coral Sea Whip Cirrhipathes sp. this rather indistinctive new species had remained undiscovered for 35 years. It was not recognised in any of the previous expeditions and fauna surveys.
However, now that its image and host have been published Pontonoides asperulatus will just become another species making up Loloata's known marine life.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
However, over those same 5 years I had been lucky enough to find some more undescribed species and with the assistance of Franco, Papua New Guinea's first PADI dive instructor, we chalked up over 9 new species.
Eventually, examples of each species were obtained and preserved and cross-referenced with the taken images. When placed in alcohol the shrimps lose all colour and become white or, clear preserved specimens and had no colour reference to indicate their individuality.
When the original labels were written, each colour pattern had to be described and the Genus (if known) was also included so that they could be recognised and double checked when the film came back from the processors.
Named for the Loloata Island Dive Resort, the Loloata Shrimp Pontonoides loloata ( female) lives on Black Coral Sea Whips Cirripathes sp. and the female grows to around 15mm. The male ( not shown) is only 10 mm.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
The specimens were then sent to Dr. Sandy Bruce (Research Associate Queensland Museum) for his opinion and so that new species status could be verified.
Within a month or so Sandy substantiated the fact that at least 6 were undescribed species and together with the rest of my collection (which together took up less room than a matchbox) he proposed he would describe the new ones and along with the other ones (which were new records or unpublished for the area) produce a major scientific paper which would then be published by the Queensland Museum's Scientific Journal.( Memoirs of the Queensland Museum)
Only known living in tunnels in encrusting ascidians beneath small pieces of dead coral, the Trilobite Shrimp Colemonia litodactylus was discovered by the author in only 3 metres of water.
The female shrimp grows to 10 mm, while the male is around 6 mm and is the most difficult to photograph.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Nine months later he submitted his finds and manuscript and after some revision and alterations suggested by the referee it was eventually published some years later.
Soon after I received my copy and proceeded to transfer the new names onto my slides and enter them into my Crustacean Catalogue of donated specimens and New Discoveries.
First discovered and photographed by Neville at Milne Bay Papua New Guinea in the early 1980's, it was not until 2002 that this reasonably common species was further investigated at Loloata Island Papua New Guinea and currently described. We now know that Coleman's Bubble Coral Shrimp Vir colemani is fairly widespread with specimens being photographed from Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Vanuatu. It lives on the bubble coral Plerogyra sinuosa in depths of 8 to 20metres. ( Queensland Museum) (Photo Neville Coleman)
The Reality of New!
Although Loloata and Motupore Islands had been visited by crustacean taxonomists and scientists from all over the world who made extensive collection for over 35 years and discovered many new things, we still managed to discover 9 undescribed new species and some new records during 2 expeditions (4 weeks diving)
More new species than had been found there before.
First seen in 1981 this new bubble coral shrimp was not collected till 1989. It was thought by crustacean taxonomists to be a juvenile of Periclimenes magnifica and left at that. In 2001 it was collected again and pointed out that it could not be a juvenile of P.magnifica, because it lived on a completely different host.
It was collected again in Nov. 2002 and we now know that it is really a Bubble Coral Shrimp Vir sp. and it is only found on Lichtenstein's Bubble Coral Physogyra lichtensteini.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
The reality of underwater exploration is not what has been done before by many. If you wish to be a real underwater explorer you can do it anywhere.
Our knowledge of our marine fauna is miniscule and it will take thousands of underwater explorers many years to establish even the most basic marine faunal listings. However, this very important aspect of diving makes the adventure of diving all the more worthwhile.
With even the most basic of underwater digital camera every diver can become an underwater explorer and contribute to our knowledge.
WE SWIM OVER UNDESCRIBED SPECIES EVERY TIME WE DIVE
No matter where you live or how well known you may think your piece of reef is, rest assured, as far as our comprehension of the natural world is concerned, everything is NEW!.