My Coral Banded Shrimp Shed. (pics)

[RocketSeason]

Hey gang,

I thought some of you may be interested in this. I woke up this morning to find my Coral Banded Shrimp dead....or was it?

I was hoping he was going to shed soon. His color had become less vibrant a few days ago and I was hoping he was not sick. To my suprise I found him sitting just a few inches away from his "skin" this morning!

Here is a very poor photo in case your curious what a CBS skin looks like. I will Take some better ones tonight when the lights are on.

 

[quarryshark]

cool stuff rocket, thanks for sharing!
My shrimp are always leaving their clothes laying around too. They are worse than my kids.

 

[ellisz]

I would always check for extra whiskers in the tank. My CBS has 6-8" antenna so I can always tell where he is at or when he molts

 

[MattP725]

My hermit did that the other day and I thought he was dead. He did try to "bury" the evidence though. Funny that you say yours is a washed out color before he molts because my hermit was bright red and now he is kinda organish after he shed.

 

[RocketSeason]

Ok, this is wierd. His molt is gone!

I am betting the hitchhikers took it all away. Yes?

 

[MattP725]

most likely... they typically leave it accessable as kinda a defense mechanism. It lures predators in teh wrong direction and gives their new skeleton time to harden.

 

[RocketSeason]

thats awsome.

 

[quarryshark]

Yes, plus it is a nutritional snack for another invert.
I have seen my Urchins eat molts on more than one occasion.

 

[dansemacabre]

I've also read that on occasion the shrimp themselves may eat it. Plenty of things in a tank to munch on a scrumptious snack. =]