Charles R Seaborn 
it. Like a flower unfolding, the shrimp 
raised its black-and-white barred body 
and moved toward my hand, spreading 
its raptorial appendages in a threat 
display, and then extended the deli- 
cately brushed maxillipeds, reaching, 
grasping, sensing the meat. It caught 
the edge of the squid and pulled with 
surprising strength toward its burrow. 
We engaged in a tug of war, the 
shrimp attempting to sequester the de- 
lectable meal in the depths of its bur- 
row, while I tried to entice it to leave 
its burrow so that we could see its 
entire body. I never totally succeeded, 
as the shrimp always clung to the edge 
of the burrow with its tail. Eventually, 
it pulled the piece of slippery squid 
from my hand and slid out of view 
in the burrow. I looked at Charles 
in dismay, afraid that we would get 
no more photographs of the marvelous 
animal. 
After its meal, however, the shrimp 
reemerged to peer at us. I offered 
another slice of squid, and this time 
I was determined to retain it. After 
considerable tugging, the shrimp in- 
vestigated my hand, gently enfolding 
it within the raptorial claw. The 
shrimp tapped, touched, tasted, and 
gently stroked my entire hand with 
the dainty maxillipeds, then returned 
42 
to its tactic of tugging at the bit of 
meat, pulling this way and that, until 
it again retreated into its burrow. Once 
inside the shrimp resumed peering at 
me, its two large eyes rotating until 
it emerged for another attempt. We 
engaged in this contest over the squid 
appetizer for more than an hour. 
Never did the shrimp strike a blow 
to my hand with its powerful raptorial 
appendages. Once, forgetting caution 
for a moment, I reached out with my 
other hand to touch the animal as 
it leaned far out of its burrow for 
the shred of squid. Without haste, it 
slipped smoothly beneath my hand 
and back into the burrow. I soon over- 
came my chagrin, however, for the 
shrimp reemerged, seemingly un- 
daunted, to seek more squid. 
When we finally left the giant man- 
tis shrimp, only its yellow eyes pro- 
truded from the burrow. The shrimp 
had retained its independence to the 
end, never having left the security of 
some contact with the burrow; it had 
endured with equanimity the intrusion 
of large, glass-faced, bubbling mon- 
sters and had taken our token offerings 
of squid. We left, elated by our good 
fortune at having shared an afternoon 
with such a magnificent, solitary crea- 
ture. □ 
The claws and anterior appendages 
of this Lysiosquilla glabriuscula are 
spread wide in a threat display. 
Appearing larger than it really is 
because of the display, the shrimp is 
backing away from the author and 
descending into its burrow. 
