Shrimpfish

Photo: Mark Rosenstein · CC BY-NC

Schools of shrimpfish hover vertically beside long-spined sea urchins at Mamanguá, their transparent bodies and racing-stripe markings making them nearly invisible until the group shifts simultaneously. They feed on the tiny copepods and amphipods drifting past in the inlet's gentle current, never straying far from the protective spines of their urchin hosts. The combination of seahorses, shrimpfish, and dense wire coral on one wall makes Mamanguá one of the most rewarding macro dives on the entire Brazilian coast.