Ghost Shrimp

Neotrypaea californniensis

For the Ghost shrimp, a home improvement project is also a meal. As the shrimp tunnels through the mud and silt, expanding its burrow, it picks up and eats bits of plankton and detritus. Scale worms, snapping shrimp, pea crabs, and other invertebrate residents of the ghost shrimp’s home help themselves to the leftovers. From the outside, the Ghost shrimp’s burrow looks like a volcano-shaped mound on the mudflats.

Fun Fact:
Ghost shrimp share their burrows with pea crabs, scale worms, snapping shrimp, and other small creatures.

What’s for Lunch:
Plankton and bits of rotting organic matter

Where’s Home:
A permanent burrow in the mudflats