Cueva de las gambas

Cueva de las Gambas — the Cave of the Shrimp — is an advanced dive near Puerto del Carmen where a volcanic cave or cavern formation in the Lanzarote basalt hosts a resident population of deep-water shrimp in its interior, providing one of the most distinctive and surprising wildlife encounters in Canarian cave diving. The cave's name is earned: the shrimp that inhabit the deeper, darker sections of the formation are typically species adapted to low-light environments, their eyes reflecting torchlight in the darkness of the interior in the characteristic way of animals evolved for dim conditions. The site is part of the Puerto del Carmen dive zone, where the volcanic cliff that forms the underwater topography of this section of Lanzarote's coast develops a complex system of caves, arches, and tunnels at depth. Cueva de las Gambas is among the more enclosed of these features, and its advanced designation reflects the combination of depth, overhead environment, and the need for navigational competence in a cave system that has limited natural light in its interior sections. The approach to the cave through Puerto del Carmen's outer reef is rewarding in its own right: the basalt formations of the approach zone are richly encrusted with the Atlantic community of sponges, anemones, and the endemic Canarian wrasse species, and the large grouper and moray eels that inhabit these formations provide encounters before the main event. The cave entrance, visible from a distance in Lanzarote's typically clear water, draws the dive toward its focal point. Inside the cave, the resident shrimp — visible in the torchlight as small red or translucent forms moving through the interior — are the primary encounter. Their adaptation to the cave environment gives the interior its specific character, and the observation of these animals in their natural low-light habitat is genuinely unusual. The cave walls are encrusted with the shade-loving organisms that characterise enclosed volcanic environments. An advanced cave dive with a unique and memorable focal species.