Subject:
A Striped Bumblebee Shrimp (Gnathophyllum americanum) is sheltering under the protective spines of a Stinging Sea Urchin (Echinotrix calamaris) on a shallow Balinese reef.
The Striped Bumblebee Shrimp is a very small but hefty-built shrimp that rarely grows longer than 2cm/0.8 inch. They are usually observed in pairs and are circumtropical, occurring in all tropical seas, with a preference for shallow waters.
These shrimps are closely associated with their food source. These carnivorous crustaceans feed on the tube feet of echinoderms, typically those of sea urchins, although starfish and sea cucumbers might also fall victim to these little reef inhabitants. Similar to the Harlequin Shrimp (Hymenocera picta and Hymenocera elegans), these shrimps exhibit a morbid twist: they consume their prey little by little, keeping their victim alive. However, unlike the Harlequin Shrimp, who consumes the entire leg of a sea star, including the tube feet and soft tissues, the bumblebee shrimp usually feeds solely on the tube feet of urchin species. Because most sea urchin species have the ability to regenerate amputated tube feet, some Striped Bumblebee Shrimp can stay with a specific sea urchin for a very long time, as long as the echinoderm continues to provide a steady food source of regenerated tube feet for these beautiful but gruesome predators.
Due to their small size and the fact that they are most of the time hiding underneath their food source, they are rarely observed by scuba divers and underwater videographers and photographers alike.
Because they are so widely spread globally, their appearance and morphology can be slightly different depending on the area they occur. Individuals can also exhibit slightly different colour patterns. However, they all display a combination of white to yellow and brown to black stripes combined with their bulky carapace and abdomen (tergum and pleuron), making them, at first glance, look like bumblebees (insects of the genus Bombus and members of the bee family).
Technique:
The white-coloured “face” (shrimps do not really have a face, but a number of external body parts such as eyes, antennae, maxillipeds, etc.) was slightly overexposed. To counter this overexposure, I worked with three different layers. The first or lowest layer is the original footage, with basic corrections. Above this image, I added a black non-transparent round feathered patch that only covered the bumblebee shrimp. And finally, I added a copy of the original footage or lowest layer again on top of both previous layers. However, this upper layer was made slightly transparent. The opacity of this upper layer is approximately 75%, resulting in a slightly darker bumblebee shrimp while keeping all other items, such as the spines of the urchin, at the same luminosity. This is the only method that I’m aware of that can reduce the overexposed parts of a video image. Usually, one can assume that overexposed images can’t be saved because all colour has been burned away. Dealing with underexposed material is usually easier; although often extremely dark, all colours are present and, with the right know-how, experience, and software, can be revived.
Filming location:
This short underwater videoclip has been filmed in Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩
More about this topic:
For an in-depth description about a the Harlequin Shrimp please visit vlog posts 44 https://www.beyondscuba.com/post/the-harlequin-shrimp
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