Nature
PUBLISHED
Don’t mess with caridean shrimp. It might look like a beady-eyed wuss, but it is much more hardcore than it first appears.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.This video comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Exploring Remote Pacific Marine Protected Areas expedition. The epic backing music to the video might suggest this shrimp is heroically saving the dragonfish from danger, but it’s actually dragging it away so it can eat it alive. Astonishingly, halfway through its meal, the shrimp slices open the dragonfish and eats a fish from its stomach.
“I have never seen a shrimp consume a fish like this before. Picking and picking, and the fish is still alive,” says one of the NOAA researchers before exclaiming, "Oh my gosh, there is a fish within a fish!"
