A snowcap shrimp — I believe that this is an undescribed species of Periclimenes — on its anemone on the fore-reef slope of the barrier reef. (Barracuda Point, Madang)
Some kind of anemone shrimp (probably a Periclimenes species, quite possibly a blue color-morph of P. holthuisi) on a similarly-colored anemone near an island. (Restorf Island, Kimbe Bay)
The same shrimp species — three individuals, this time — at the same site. (Restorf Island, Kimbe Bay)
An anemone shrimp that shares an anemone with porcelain crabs and saddleback anemonefish in the sheltered lee of an island, near the inside slope of the barrier reef. The southern half of the island's sandy expanse, that shows above water as a beautiful beach, is filled with all sorts of 'macro citters,' including some very unusual denizens of local waters, and a dive or snorkel in that direction rarely makes much forward progress because of all of the small distractions. In its own way, exploring such areas is every bit as compelling as the sharkiest and most adrenalizing dive you might have had in other habitats. (Wongat Island, Madang)
Miniscule coral shrimps (Dasycaris zanzibarica), a few millimeters long, working their way along a long coil of black coral (Restorf Island, Kimbe Bay)
An unidentified shrimp — one of several — at night on a red gorgonian fan. The sea fan was on the port wing of a sunken American bomber. Look on just about any sea fan or soft coral and you're almost sure to find shrimps of some kind, especially at night. The sea in PNG is literally crawling with life. (B-25 wreck, Madang)
I don't know what you see, but when Andrew — divemaster on MV FeBrina — showed me this, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. The white blob turns out to be the creature's head, the red part its thorax, and the long (barely-visible) translucent bits were its front 'pincers.' The beast in question is an anemone shrimp that scientists dubbed P. kororensis. It's in a very strange coral, of family Fungiidae, that has its tentacles extended — these corals occur as small oval discs that stand alone and are are quite different from what most people's idea of a coral is. (Inglis Shoal, Kimbe Bay)
A close-up of the anemone shrimp, showing its eyes. What a strange-looking beast, indeed — and I was thinking the same thing about it, too. (Inglis Shoal, Kimbe Bay)
Two of the same small shrimp species in the same coral. (Inglis Shoal, Kimbe Bay)
Another anemone shrimp species, P. brevicarpalis, on a coral colony nearby on the same seamount. (Inglis Shoal, Kimbe Bay)
A hermit crab (Dardanus lagopodes) and its stromb-shell (Strombus sp., possibly S. gibberulus) home on the sand around an island. (Restorf Island, Kimbe Bay)