Nudibranch and emperor

Malcolm Hey: Reclining emperor shrimp
Malcolm Hey: Reclining emperor shrimp

While I was looking through a stack of postcards, this image from London’s Natural History Museum jumped out, so I’ll be using it today to write to a friend. The picture was taken by Malcolm Hey, is entitled “Reclining emperor shrimp” and won a Wildlife Photographer of the Year award in 2005.

The textures, the colour, and generally the calm and sense of whimsy that emanates from it are what makes this piece of photography so attractive. But but what triggered my posting this right now is the explanatory paragraph on the back of the card, which starts as follows:

Twirling and whirling in a crimson leotard and white tutu, the Spanish dancer (a large nudibranch, or seaslug) emerges to feed at night. Sometimes it has a passive partner, an emperor shrimp, tucked in the frilly folds of its gills. The tiny shrimp (about a centimetre – 0.4 inches long) turns red to blend in with its host’s costume.

Nudibranch is a great word.

(So is seaslug.)

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