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Fiji Islands, 2004

In the waters of the Fiji Islands, an emperor shrimp and a commensal crab nearly vanish in the calico pattern of a large leopard sea cucumber. The sea cucumber provides food for the crustaceans in the form of mucus on its skin and defends itself by ejecting its toxic stomach when danger threatens.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Fiji's Rainbow Reefs," November 2004, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Tim Laman