Sometimes there are unusual behaviors that you don't notice until you read about them. My friend Shoju Shi introduced a paper about this little shrimp, Pederson's Shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) and the dances they do to indicate to reef fish that they are willing to clean. This then pairs with the reef fish color changing to a darker tone to indicate to the shrimp it is ready to be cleaned.
Back in 2017 when I took a trip to Belize, I had recorded this little fella while on a dive around the Blue Hole, specifically near a reef called The Aquarium Wall. It was insanely clear but I had unfortunately broke my deep water filters. This was the last dive of the day but the water was warm and there was still so much to see. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice this small shrimp near an anemone swaying back and forth. The current didn't seem to be that strong so I took a quick recording and moved along.
Knowing what I know now, this was actually a pretty cool behavior. The shrimp typically does the tail wagging and antennae whipping as its signal to fish it wishes to clean. I had gotten up close to this little bugger so he probably was offering a clean. I should have taken out my reg and opened my mouth for a little tonsil cleaning.
Read more here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2018.0800
Song: Reefs by fujitsu
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