The secret social lives of shrimp

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z735I4m8F8c[/youtube]

No, we’re not making this up. Deep in the crevices of coral reefs, even deeper inside the hollow Swiss-cheese-like bodies of living sponges, are hundreds of little “pistol” shrimp that band together for protection in a cooperative colony headed by a queen, much as ants and honeybees do. These secretive creatures are in fact the only marine animals known to have this “eusocial” lifestyle. We worked with the BBC in Belize several years ago to produce this cool video featured in their fabulous Blue Planet series, and it is now available on Youtube.