Apposition compound eyes of Spongicoloides koehleri (Crustacea: Spongicolidae) are derived by neoteny.

Wedding shrimps, Spongicoloides koehleri, spend the adult phase of their life cycle within the cavity of a hexactinellid sponge. Although there is little light at the depths at which the sponges are found, the shrimps do not use the highly sensitive reflecting superposition optics commonly found in other shrimp-like decapods. Instead they have apposition eyes which are virtually free of shielding pigment. It is proposed that this is due to the paedomorphic retention of the larval optics through the process of neoteny.