Donald Duck Shrimp

Image: Klaus Stiefel
Leander plumosus

Poor, old Donald Duck. Someone needs to tell that guy that blind rage and mean-spiritedness is not a good way of dealing with a speech impediment and an extraordinary lack of good fortune. I hope his shrimp learned that lesson because a shrimp's fury is more futile than most. Sad, but true.

It's the Donald Duck Shrimp, also known as the Plume Shrimp, the Long-nose Shrimp and a host of other names, many of which are like an innocent child in a supermarket loudly asking mummy, why does that man have such a big, hairy nose?

Video: liquidguru

The truth is, I have absolutely no idea why this shrimp has such a big, hairy nose. Or rostrum, to be more precise. Mr. plumosus here was discovered as recently as 1994 and it looks like very little is known about it.

We do at least know that it reaches about 3 cm (scarcely more than an inch) long and comes from the Indo-Pacific, where it glories in colours far more vibrant than the drab camouflage of its closest kin.

Image: prilfish

The Donald Duck Shrimp belongs to a family called Palaemonidae, within a subfamily that mostly contains carnivores who prey on various tiny creatures. The other Palaemonid subfamily contains lots of cleaner shrimp, those fellows who can sometimes be seen entering the mouth of the dragon to feed on parasites and bits of flesh caught between jagged teeth.

There's nothing to suggest that the Donald Duck Shrimp is one of these cleaners, regardless of its resemblance to a toothbrush.