Vercoia interrupta KIM &amp; FUJITA 2004
Creators: name: Anker, Arthur
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Crangonidae
Vercoia
Vercoia interrupta

description: <i>Vercoia interrupta</i> Kim &amp; Fujita, 2004 (Fig. 1) <b> <i>Material examined.</i> –</b> 1 ovigerous female (CL 6.5 mm), OUMNH 2009-18 - 0046, The Philippines, Bohol, Balicasag Island near Panglao, 9°31'05.07"N 123°40'52.25"E, early night dive, depth 3–5 m, coll. G. Poppe, 26 Jan.2009 [photographed]. Additional specimen observed in situ, not collected. – 1 ovigerous female, The Philippines, Cebu, Ponson Island off Pilar, 10°43'54.75"N 124°31'00.43'E, night dive, rubble, depth 20 m, 12 Oct. 2008 [photographed]. <b> <i>Description.</i> –</b> Kim &amp; Fujita (2004) provided an excellent description of <i>V. interrupta</i>, with numerous illustrations of the adult morphology, as well as the first to fourth zoea. <b> <i>Colour pattern.</i> –</b> Carapace and abdomen mostly opaque whitish with some greyish areas; walking legs dark purple; antennular flagella with blackish spot proximally, pale yellow distally (Fig. 1). <b> <i>Distribution.</i> –</b> Presently known only from the type locality in Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands (Kim &amp; Fujita 2004) and Balicasag (Bohol) and Ponson (Cebu) in the central Philippines (present study). The present record of <i>V. interrupta</i> from the Philippines extends its distribution range southwards by around 1,800 km. <b> <i>Habitat.</i> –</b> Coral rubble with encrusting algae and sponges (Fig. 1C), at depths of 3–8.5 m, possibly down to 20 m (Kim &amp; Fujita 2004; present study). <i> <i>Biology. –</i> Vercoia interrupta</i> uses a rather remarkable camouflage strategy. As in other species of <i>Vercoia</i> and some other Crangonidae, the body of <i>V. interrupta</i> is compact and heavily sculptured (“bumpy”), being covered with numerous tubercles and several ridges (Fig. 1A, B; see also Kim &amp; Fujita 2004), and has a uniform “dirty whitish” colour, the dark purple walking legs being mostly invisible in dorsal view (Fig. 1B, G). Kim &amp; Fujita (2004) noted that <i>V. interrupta</i> resembles a “small piece of rubble”, which would make it cryptic on a rubble bottom. However, by stretching the abdomen completely, with its tail fan almost pointing posteriorly (Fig. 1D–G), the shrimp also remarkably resembles a dead and encrusted cerithiid snail shell, more specifically that of <i>Cerithium rostratum</i> G. B. Sowerby II, 1855, which is common in the area (G. Poppe, pers. comm.). Even when moving <i>V. interrupta</i> resembles a cerithiid shell occupied by a hermit crab more than a shrimp, and would probably be ignored by most visually hunting predators. Night activity (all individuals of <i>V. interrupta</i> were found at night) may further increase the survival chances of this peculiar shrimp. <b> <i>Remarks.</i> –</b> Behavioural observations and photographs of <i>Vercoia</i> spp. are extremely rare. To the author’s best knowledge, the only other published photograph of <i>Vercoia</i> is that of <i>V. gibbosa</i> (Gowlett-Holmes, 2008), which also seem to mimic shell fragments. All species of <i>Vercoia</i> may be imitators of dead shells or at least shell fragments, based on their morphological similarity with <i>V. interrupta</i>, although the latter species seems to do so most convincingly.
description: Published as part of <i>Anker, Arthur, 2010, A Second Finding Of Vercoia Interrupta Kim &amp; Fujita, 2004 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Crangonidae), A Remarkable Shrimp Imitating Dead Snail Shells, pp. 27-30 in Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 58 (1)</i> on page 29, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5342417
description: {"references": ["Gowlett-Holmes, K., 2008. A Field Guide to the Marine Invertebrates of South Australia. Notomares, Sandy Bay, Tasmania. 354 pp."]}