a native marine shrimp, here shown resting on the sponge [i]Polymastia croceus[/i]. This glass shrimp was formerly thought to have an almost worldwide distribution but (from what I've been reading) is now considered to be an endemic species restricted to New Zealand waters. Likewise the sponge was formerly included in the more widespread [i]P. granulosus[/i] but has now been split as an endemic species. There is lots of work to still be done on NZ marine invertebrates :)
Photo taken 27 August 2010
