Pacific cleaner shrimp Lysmata debelius

Scarlet cleaner shrimp

  Crabs, shrimps and shellfish

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Pacific cleaner shrimp Lysmata debelius

Identity card

Pacific cleaner shrimp

Scientific name:
Lysmata debelius
Family:
Hippolytidae
Class:
Malacostraca
Phylum:
Arthropode
Year of description:
de Man, 1888
IUCN Status:
Not Evaluated
Distribution:

Eastern Indian Ocean, from Sri Lanka to the Philippines, and in the Maldives archipelago.

Habitat:

Coral reefs to depths of 20 to 30 metres.

Size:

8 cm

Diet:

It is carnivorous and a scavenger.

Pacific cleaner shrimp Lysmata debelius
 

In order to grow, shrimp have to moult: their shell is replaced by a larger one.

Carnivorous and a scavenger, this 8 cm long shrimp is hermaphrodite: it is born male and then becomes female while keeping functional male genitalia.

did you know?

Biomimicry: the properties and constituents of shrimp shells have inspired the design of shrilk, a form of inexpensive and biodegradable plastic. Chitin, the element that makes up the shell of shrimp, is used in various fields such as medicine, cosmetics, surgery and wastewater filtration.

Where is the animal to be found?

It lives on coral reefs and at depths of between 20 and 30 metres. The Pacific cleaner shrimp generally lives in pairs or groups of a few individuals.

How can it be recognised?

It is easily identified by the bright red colour of its outer skeleton, with a series of white spots on it. Its antennae and walking legs are also two-coloured with a red base and a white tip. Its claws are red.

What is distinctive about it?

The Pacific cleaner shrimp is a cleaner: it feeds by cleansing the fish in the reef of their parasites or food waste.

Where can I find it at Nausicaá?

mankind and shores

Pacific cleaner shrimp Lysmata debelius

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