SHRIMPS have much more in common with bees than anyone thought. According to one American marine scientist, the social organisation of some shrimp societies is similar to that of a beehive, in which individuals cooperate to survive.
Several animalsamong them African mole rats, termites and some beeslive in communities with complex social structures. Some individuals forego their own reproduction to fulfil other roles, such as defence, foraging and most importantly the care of the young. In this week's Nature (vol 381, p 512), Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science reports that he has found the first example of a marine animal that exhibits this behaviour.
Duffy studied a small shrimp (Synalpheus regalis) that lives in the internal canals of sponges off the coast of Belize. He found that in each colony of up to 300 individuals there was only one reproductive female, the "queen". Genetic analysis of ...
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