The colorful Spotted Cleaner Shrimp is one of the few animals that can live among the stinging tentacles of the Giant Anemone. This tiny Spotted Cleaner Shrimp was only 1 inch long. We saw several of these shrimp among the tentacles of Giant Anemones at Tori's Reef near Bonaire.

The Spotted Cleaner Shrimp is named appropriately. Its body is a translucent brown covered with several large white dots. Its eyes are attached on short stalks on either side of its head, and these stalks are covered with many tiny dots. Tiny dots also cover the bases of its many long antennae that also stick out from its head. The Spotted Cleaner Shrimp has purple and white bands on its legs, and it has purple, white, and brown bands on its two front legs. Notice the small claws at the ends of its front legs.

Many reef Shrimps are cleaners, meaning that they will clean fish that swim up to them. Their bright colors advertise their cleaning services and will attract fish. However, living among the deadly tentacles of this Giant Anemone, it might attract fish so close that the Giant Anemone could catch them. The Giant Anemone isn't very big; it gets its name only because it is so much bigger than other Anemones. The tentacles of this Giant Anemone were only about 6 inches long.

Read all about the island of Bonaire on the ReefNews website, at
   http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/oceangeo/bonaire/bonaire.html.

ReefNews photographer Jonathan Dowell took this photo using a Canon 10D digital camera with a Canon 28-105 mm zoom lens in an Ikelite housing with an Ikelite strobe.

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