We trekked out to Elliott Bay Marina as we do on dark and sometimes stormy nights last night.  From all appearances, it looked like it would be a bust – the water was really cloudy because of all the stormwater from recent rains.  A small contingent of dedicated biologists and everyday citizens joined us for an evening of capturing unsuspecting polychaetes, fish and tunicates.

As we began to pack up our submersible lights and field guides, we took one last scoop with our net, and pulled up a beautiful forage fish.  Already in the bucket was a rhinoceros shrimp that seemed quite peaceful and content.  The shrimp had been in the bucket for about 20 minutes and we feared we had harmed it by capturing it.

Mandy dutifully recorded our newly captured forage fish to identify later (still unknown!)when the unthinkable happened.  Right there, in our bucket, the shrimp pulled its head and tentacles out of its shell!  We didn’t notice since we were focused on the forage fish, until it suddenly, and with a jolt, it removed its tail from the shell as well!  The shrimp’s shell lay discarded like dirty laundry as it seemed to come back to life.  That’s why it was so sluggish – and probably why we caught it so easily – it was molting!  Thrilled to not have harmed the shrimp AND see nature in action, we continued packing up our gear, smiling and joyfully retelling the experience to each other as we walked off the pier.