La crevette nettoyeuse Lysmata amboinensis

Pacific cleaner shrimp

Arthropods or shellfish

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Identity card

Pacific cleaner shrimp

Scientific name:: Lysmata amboinensis

Family:: Hippolytidae

Class:: Malacostraca

Phylum:: Arthropode

Year of description:: de Man, 1888

IUCN Status:: Not Evaluated

Distribution:: The Pacific cleaner shrimp is mainly found in tropical seas, in the Indo-Pacific region.

Habitat:: It lives in coral reefs, rocky areas and deep-water caves.

Size:: It measures from 6 cm for males to 7 cm for females.

Diet:: Detritivorous

As they are crustaceans, shrimp moult periodically, always at night. It remain hidden until their shells have hardened.

This shrimp is hermaphroditic: it is born male and then becomes female.

As its name suggests, the Pacific cleaner shrimp is a scavenger and parasite remover. It feeds by removing parasites, dead skin and food waste from fish and invertebrates.

Did you know?

Where is the animal to be found?

It lives in coral reefs, rocky areas and deep-water caves.

In tropical seas, this small shrimp can be found in the mouths of large fish such as moray eels. If you go diving in such locations, they may also find their way into your mouth.

How can it be recognised ?

The body of the Pacific cleaner shrimp is red with a white central stripe terminating on the caudal fin. It measures from 6 cm for males to 7 cm for females.

What is distinctive about it?

As its name suggests, this shrimp is a very effective cleaning station. It cleans fish and some invertebrates thus helping them to stay healthy. Therefore, this behaviour is beneficial to both the fish and the shrimp.

300 - That is how many fish this shrimp can clean each day.