Werner de Gier

Unexpectedly, some shrimp prefer the cohabitation with other living things, known as symbiosis. Symbiotic shrimp are heavily understudied – for every species of “jumbo” shrimp on your plate, there are dozens of tiny shrimp yet to be discovered living inside and on other animals.

Deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea, lives a small creature, bright as an emerald. The attractive sheen of the home on its back is a double-edged sword for this slow-moving creature.

Modern fish make up a huge part of Earth’s ecosystems, and cover a lot of niches. Predators, omnivores and herbivores are all found in this diverse group. Millions of years of adaptation has sculpted their bodies into the various forms and shapes we see today.

While most leeches live in fresh or salt water, a small fraction of the blood-sucking parasites are terrestrial. The so-called land leeches are a distinct group of annelid worms native to the rainforests found around the Indo-Pacific.

Assassin spiders, or sometimes called “pelican spiders” are a rather rare group of spider-eating spiders. Their highly modified anatomy causes them to look like alien creatures, however these modifications do have a purpose: to catch and kill other spiders.