An underwater photographer has shared fascinating footage of a tiny creature so small that it’s almost impossible to see: a hairy shrimp (Phycocaris simulans).
“Barely the size of a grain of rice, this 1–5mm creature is almost impossible to see, earning it a notorious reputation among macro photographers as the ‘photographer’s nightmare’,” says dive instructor and photographer Teong Chye Goh when sharing the footage on Instagram.
Goh and his colleague Basri Bin Basir had planned a night dive under the Seaventures house reef in Borneo’s Sipadan to try to find a strange-looking fish called a seamoth, he told BBC Wildlife via email.
“Basri suddenly signalled me and shone his torch on what looked like nothing more than a speck of dust drifting in the water,” he says.
Squinting at the spot, he couldn’t see a thing at first. Then, he realised he was looking at a teeny, tiny hairy shrimp. In the video, the strange red creature is buffeted this way and that in the water, as if mimicking the rolling gait of a sailor on a ship.
The shrimps delicate body seems to be made of tiny crimson threads, intricately woven together.
It moved with “sudden, erratic hops, like a flea suspended in water,” he adds on Instagram. “When it pauses, it adopts a curious posture, tail raised high, forming a silhouette reminiscent of a swan resting on the seabed.”
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Focusing the camera on this minuscule, wobbly creature was a huge challenge. “The shrimp kept bouncing around unpredictably, testing my patience and skill as I tried to capture a steady shot,” Goh says. “Every time I thought I had it framed, it darted off again.”
Yet, he persisted until he managed to capture footage he was happy with, saying: “That challenge made the final footage even more rewarding, because it reflects not just the beauty of the animal but also the persistence required to reveal it.”
Most people will never see these tiny, adorable animals – and if they swim by them, many wouldn’t even notice them.
“The hairy shrimp remains a true 'holy grail' of the underwater world,” adds Goh on Instagram.
Image and video credit: Teong Chye Goh & Seaventures Dive Rig
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