Commensal caridean shrimps of Octocorallia and Antipatharia in Curaçao and Bonaire with description of a new species of Neopontonides

It is well known that many tropical marine shrimps live in close association with the larger members of a variety of marine phyla, although the precise status of the association in most cases is not established (BALSS 1957). The association between shrimps and other marine invertebrates in the Caribbean region has been little studied. At present following species are known to associate with Octocorallia and Antipatharia in this region: Pseudocoutierea antillensis Chace, 1972; two as yet undescribed species of Pseudocoutierea (Criales in press), Neopontonides beaufortensis (Borradaile) and undescribed species of Pseudocoutierea and Neopontonides (R. HEARD, pers. comm.). All these belong to the subfamily Pontoniinae. The hippolytid shrimps Tozeuma carolinensis, and species of the genus Hippolyte have been observed on octocorals (VOSS 1956, CHACE 1972).