I have a shrimp living in my clam??!!

[NKT]

Just purchased a 2.5-3" maxima clam, was looking at it with a flashlight tonight and, lo and behold, there was a small shrimp living inside! It appears to be a small (~1/3"), clear-ish shrimp with small red dots on it...my first guess was it may be related to the periclimenes shrimps....

Has anyone ever seen/heard about mutualism between shrimp/clam? The clam so far appears to be healthy, with good reflexes, extension. The only thing that worries me a little is its inhalant siphon is open a bit wider than my other clams usually are. I guess I may just have to wait and see cause I can't think of a way of getting the shrimp out...

Any ideas of whether this is good or bad? I'll try to see if I can get a pic of it sometime tomorrow. Thanks in advance!

Nico

 

[Jawbone]

That is peculiar I have never heard of a shrimp living in a live clam,
I would think the clam would try and mac on the shrimp by now

Not sure if its healthy, But I would not mess with it... Best to let nature take its course


BTW. Whats with the speakers??

 

[Carpentersreef]

Never heard of that before. I would be concerned that when the shrimp gets hungry, it will start eating it's host.

Mitch

 

[jamesw]

I saw that once at MACNA. Harbor had a clam w/ a small clear/white crab or shrimp living in it. From what I gathered, the crab/shrimp was not parasitic, but commensal. I hope so, for your clam's sake!

HTH
James

 

[wade1]

Toward the bottom of this article by Knop he replies to a question asked by a hobbiest....

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/aug/shell/default.asp

He doesn't give a name however...

 

[Anemone]

Dr. Ron talks about crabs that have commensal relationships with clams (here), but shrimp have never been brought up (to my knowledge). Personally, if the clam appears healthy now, I wouldn't be too worried.

Kevin

 

[Philippe Dor]

Commensal crabs are quite common and totaly harmless in clams, so why not a shrimp, just let it be if the clam doesn't mind, trying to dislodge the shrimp might do more harm than good.

 

[NKT]

After reading Knop's reply in Wade's post I feel much more at ease.
Speakers! I love em, that's my other money-pit hobby :roll: hehe.

 

[Brvheart5]

Another speaker nut?? Well it's good to know I'm not the only one. People give me odd looks when they walk into my house. Like "WHO would need THIS many speakers"??

By the way, cool little couple. I wouldn't even worry about it.

 

[Anonymous]

NKT,
Could I PM you with a technical question about computer speakers?

po

 

[NKT]

Hi Johnny, sorry but I don't think I'd be very helpful with computer speakers. I'd probably be more helpful with stereo 2-channel type stuff .

Anyhow, I took a picture of the shrimp in the clam tonight:

http://www.pbase.com/image/3168790

 

[DaveC]

I just watched a discovery show over the weekend and they showed a crab that lived inside a clam shell for protection, it was clear like you stated and it has a very soft shell thats why they need the protection of a clam...could it be a crab instead of a shrimp??

DaveC

 

[Anonymous]

that doesn't look like a shrimp to me...that looks like one of those ugly white pill bugs i see in my garden. :?

i wonder if it might be a crab like others have suggested.

 

[Anonymous]

You've got some really nice animals in that tank man!
Here's my favorite. I've been looking and looking to get a rose BTA. Where'd you find this one? It's beautiful.

po


ps: (BTW, I was misleading with 'computer speakers'. They're not the internal speakers that beep. They're the external speakers. Like the ones that come in a package of three with two small speakers and a bass box. I've got two sets of those. One set is just collecting dust. I was wondering if it's possible to just splice the sets together, so that I could have more sound, without risking damage?)

 

[Anonymous]

that doesn't look like a shrimp to me...that looks like one of those ugly white pill bugs i see in my garden. :?

Try looking at the set of black dots off to the right of that.

 

[Brvheart5]

NKT,

On a sidenote, I was looking at your picture gallery and I'm really impressed with the photos. It's tough to get aquarium photos. What camera are you using?
And another sidenote, you've never heard your B&W 602's distort have you?

And Pojohnny, you actually could use both speaker sets. A lot of people might start talking of impedance and stuff, but sure; you could do it. They have all the necessary splitters and such at Radio Shack. You'll just need to know which connectors of course, such as 1/8th inch, RCA-style. I don't think you'll really be overly impressed with the sound, though. Or you could even get a surround sound setup going on the computer and use them for actual channels.

-rock on

 

[NKT]

Hi Brvheart, thanks for the kind words. I was using a Nikon 995 for all of the pictures. And to answer the other sidenote, I purchased the 602's for my girlfriend awhile back, and they've performed remarkably well considering their cost--not much distortion, relatively good bass output (the speakers in my avatar are my home speakers--Egglestonworks Fontaine, love em).

Finally, to answer Johnny's question, it's probably ok to get a 1/8" minijack splitter from radio shack connected to your soundcard output. Impedance and the like will probably not be a problem because the amplifier for computer speakers is housed in the subwoofer unit. Good luck!