Indonesia Photo gallery: Diving Komodo National Park

Crustaceans include crabs, lobsters, shrimps, barnacles, and similar animals. Crustaceans have two-parted limbs and a distinct larval phase. Most are free-living aquatic animals. Their bodes consist of three segments, the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. Crustaceans have hard exoskeletons which must be moulted for the animals to grow.

Lobsters have long bodies with muscular tails. They live in crevices or burrows in the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws. Spiny lobsters are not closely related to clawed lobsters.

Painted spiny lobster, Panulirus versicolor

Squat lobsters are flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax.

Elegant crinoid squat lobster, Allogalathea elegans

Tanegashima squat lobster, Galathea tanegashimae

Crabs are decapod crustaceans which typically have a very short projecting tail which is usually hidden under the thorax. They have a thick exoskeleton and a single pair of pincers.

Zebra urchin crab, Zebrida adamsii

Haig's porcelain crab, Porcellanella haigae

Conical spider crab, Xenocarcinus conicus

Soft coral porcelain crab, Lissoporcellana nakasonei

Paleface coral crab, Tetralia cinctipes

Red swimming crab, Charybdis paucidentata

Rainbow swimming crab, Charybdis cf erythrodactyla

[unidentified swimming crab, Portunus sp.?]

Splendid red spooner crab, Etisus splendidus

Arrow crab, Latreillia sp.

[unidentified decorator crabs]

Hydroid decorator crab, Hyastenus bispinosus

Corallimorph decorator crab, Cyclocoeloma tuberculata

Bull hydroid crab, Naxioides taurus

[unidentified swimming crab, Portunus sp.?]

[unidentified swimming crabs, Carupa sp.?]

Red-dotted guard crab, Trapezia cymodoce

Orangutan crab, Oncinopus sp.

Shrimps are decapod crustaceans with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion. Shrimp have thin fragile legs that are used mostly for perching.

Night shrmp, Processidae

Metapenaeopsis sp.

Cuapetes sp.

Hinge-beak shrimp, Cinetorhynchus sp.

Night shrimp, Processidae

Purple urchin shrimp, Stegopontonia cf commensalis

Squat shrimp, Thor amboinensis

Holthuis's anemone shrimp, Ancylomenes holthuisi

Coleman shrimp, Periclimenes colemani

Magnificent anemone shrimp, Ancylomenes magnificus

Ancylomenes sp.

Emperor shrimp, Periclimenes imperator

Banded coral shrimp, Stenopus hispidus

Translucent gorgonium shrimp, Manipontonia psamathe

Hermit crabs are decapod crustaceans with an asymmetrical, long, spirally curved, soft abdomen that is concealed in a scavenged mollusc shell carried around by the hermit crab, into which the whole body can retract.

Anemone hermit crab, Dardanus pedunculatus

Pale anemone hermit crab, Dardanus deformis

Tiny hermit crab, Pagurixus rubrovittatus

[unidentified]

Morgan's coral hermit crab, Paguritta morgani

[unidentified]

Mantis shrimps (stomatopods) have powerful claws that are used to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning, or dismembering. Their eyes are mounted on mobile stalks and can move independently of each other.

Mantis, Lysiosquilla sp.

Peacock mantis, Odontodactylus scyllarus

Isopods have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennas, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and five pairs of branching appendages on the abdomen that are used in respiration. Females brood their young in a pouch under the thorax.

Sponge isopods, Santia sp.

Amphipods have no carapace and have a laterally compressed body. Most are scavengers.

Dalmatian ladybug amphipods, Cyproideidae sp.

Skeleton shrimp are a kind of amphipod. They have slender threadlike bodies. The males are much larger than the females.

Red-stripe keleton shrimp, Protella similis

Copepods have a larval form which has a head and tail but no thorax or abdomen. The larva, called a nauplius, is so different from the adult that they were once thought to be a different species. About half of the known copepod species are parasitic.

Parasitic copepod, Copepoda

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Last modified 30 October 2024