Our first specimen was found on 5 April 1983 at night on algae on an Enewetak Atoll lagoon pinnacle at a depth of 12 meters. It was subsequently found on numerous occasions in the lagoon of Kwajalein Atoll and has also been observed at Majuro. The following two photos show four specimens found at a depth of about 10m in Halimeda algae next to the wreck of the German Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen, which sank at Kwajalein Atoll after participating (as a target) in two nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946.
Two more specimens were found on 19 July 2009 on algae in a Kwajalein lagoon Halimeda patch. These are illustrated in the photos below.
Below is one of two observed on 24 December 2012 on the Kwajalein Atoll seaward reef.
Additional specimens were found on Halimeda algae on the seaward reef on 9 March 2014.
The Majuro observations below were from Ken Cone and Beth Van Zummeren.
The older photos below show the original 1983 specimen from Enewetak.
Created 7 February 2007
Updated 3 August 2021