West Seattle wildlife: The Alki ‘shrimp’ that wasn’t

February 25, 2012 at 10:03 am | In West Seattle beaches, West Seattle news, Wildlife | 11 Comments

(Click for larger view)
Another peek at a world that’s all around us, yet so small it’s all but out of sight: Photographer Machel Spence explains her image:

I just had to share this because it’s pretty darn amazing! It’s a phantom shrimp I happened to come across down by the water; they are also called skeleton shrimps … this one was fairly small (1/2 an inch) but they can get up to 2 inches. She has a brood pouch too, which I personally have never actually seen with my own eyes (just in books). In the past, I have come across large colonies of these but they move around so much, they can be hard to photograph, but this beautiful girl just stayed completely still (pretty awesome moment!) It was on a piece of eelgrass down at Alki. They are not actually shrimps but amphipods.

(More info about them can be found here.)

11 Comments

  1. Great photo – almost looks like a Dr Seuss character

    Comment by jwws — 11:23 am February 25, 2012 #

  2. Love the pose she is doing.., so lady like!

    Comment by KD — 11:40 am February 25, 2012 #

  3. What an amazing place we live in! Thank you for this photo and explanation.

    Comment by Marie M — 11:49 am February 25, 2012 #

  4. Wozers! that is cool!

    Comment by coffee — 12:32 pm February 25, 2012 #

  5. Is that an eye and a mouth I see?

    Comment by resident3 — 1:30 pm February 25, 2012 #

  6. Fascinating-thanks for sharing!

    Comment by CJ — 1:47 pm February 25, 2012 #

  7. Amazing find and great photo.

    Comment by Karen (Old Desolate) — 5:07 pm February 25, 2012 #

  8. Cool–looks kinda like a preying mantis made out of tree sap or maple sugar.

    Comment by ILoveWestSeattle — 6:08 pm February 25, 2012 #

  9. Damn, she’s cute! A sea monkey with a Marge Simpson hairdo.

    Comment by Sonoma — 12:15 am February 26, 2012 #

  10. Very cool! Thanks for sharing !!

    Comment by Bligs Mander — 4:51 am February 26, 2012 #

  11. Wow, that’s fascinating! I’ve never seen one before. It really does look like a Dr Seuss character and I’m going to pay more attention when I’m on the beach at Alki from now on.

    Comment by CanDo — 7:30 am February 26, 2012 #

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