New Shrimp Looks Like A Cross Between A Jelly Bean And A Scorpion

By Leonard Ho

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The newly described shrimp is currently known to associate with the brain coral Diploastrea heliopora, although further exploration may discover other stony coral hosts for M.scorpio. The only other species of the genus is M.fungiacola, which lives in a wide variety of LPS such as Platygyra lamellina (Merulinidae), Lobophyllia hemprichii, cf. Micromusa sp., Symphyllia cf. radians (Lobophylliidae), and Galaxea sp. These are all very commonly collected corals for the marine aquarium hobby, so reefkeepers who keep these corals might just have one of these tiny symbiotic hitchhikers hiding in their tanks. Time to bust out the red flashlight at night!

Read more here: Advanced Aquarist