Family Alpheidae, Pistol Shrimp

Seldom seen, often heard... and the results of their "shooting" known far and wide... the Alpheids can be easily identified (if you can find them) by their very short eye stalks and one much larger "pistol" claw.  This specialized appendage is capable of punching holes in all crustacean exoskeletons, even many shellfish! Alpheus and Synalpheus species are the notable symbionts with Shrimp Gobies.

Pistol Shrimp are the predominant crustaceans on the world's reefs... and so you are likely to run into them... they eat most all types of foods... and if kept fed will often leave other crustaceans and mollusks alone. See happily fed specimen above in title bar.

Family Caprellidae: Skeleton Shrimp, Leach 1814.

Family Gnathophyllidae & Hymenoceridae, Harlequin Shrimp. Four genera.

Family Hippolytidae, Cleaner Shrimp

Family Palaemonidae, two subfamilies: Rock Shrimp, Anemone Shrimp

Family Pandalidae:

Family Rhynchocinetidae, Dancing Shrimp. 

Family Stenopodidae, Boxing Shrimp. 

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Raising Peppermint Shrimp: www.lysmatapublishing.com

Baensch, Hans & Helmut Debelius. 1994. Marine Atlas, v.1. MERGUS, Germany. 1215pp.

Brach, Vince. 1996. Aquarium "gunmen" (Alpheid shrimp). FAMA 8/96.

Brockmann, Dieter. Undated. Keeping Anemone Shrimps in the marine aquarium. Aquarium Digest International #53, p. 13

Bruce, A.J. Undated. Shrimps that live on tropical echinoderms. Underwater Magazine. #17. 

Bruckner, Andrew W. 1993. Tropical Shrimp. Social relationships in the aquarium. FAMA 2/93.

Chlupaty, Peter. 1982. The Harlequin Shrimp- Hymenocera picta. TFH 11/82.

Debelius, Helmut. 1984. Armoured Knights of the Sea. Kernen Verlag, Essen Germany and Quality Marine, Los Angeles, CA. 

Debelius, Helmut. 1999. Crustacea of the World. Atlantic, Indian, Pacific Oceans. IKAN, Germany 321pp.

Delbeek, Charles. 1989. Common Shrimp (Suborder Natantia) for the marine aquarium. Aquarium management, reproduction and behaviour. FAMA 4/89.

Friese, U. Erich. 1984. Crustaceans in the home aquarium. TFH 12/84.

Gosliner, Terrence M, David W. Behrens and Gary C. Williams. 1996. Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific. Animal live from Africa to Hawai'i exclusive of the vertebrates. Sea Challengers, Monterey California. 314pp.

Hemdal, Jay. 1984. Shrimp of the Caribbean. FAMA 9/84. 

Hilfrich, Walter. 1972. Shrimps are more than food. Marine Aquarist 3:1.

Hunziker, Ray. 1993. The magic of tropical Shrimps. TFH 7/93. 

Kerstitch, Alex. 1988. Jaws and claws. Most shrimps are scavengers, but some species employ more resourceful and ingenious techniques for capturing prey. FAMA 10/88.

Kraul, Syd and Alan Nelson. 1986. The life cycle of the Harlequin Shrimp. FAMA 9/86.

Sheley, Tom. 1984. Hymenocera picta. FAMA 10/84. 

Wilkens, Peter. 1989. Tropical Shrimps in the Marine Aquarium. TFH 11/89.

To-Be-Identified Shrimp 12/16/12 Hi Bob,  <Lynn> Just saw the gorgeous shrimp from IZOO, listed as “to-be-identified”, on today’s dailies.  It appears to be Alpheus soror, aka the “Bullseye Pistol Shrimp”. <Ah yes; thank you>   I’ve seen them available on the ‘net listed as such, but found a listing in Debelius’ Crustacean Guide of The World (2001), page 147.  It lists length up to 3.5cm, distribution as “Maldives, Sri Lanka, Philippines, probably widespread to IWP”.  It also goes on to state that the two photos listed “show an undescribed species, possibly of the Alpheus diadema-group. It has purple walking legs, and a conspicuous large ocellus on the second abdominal segment.”.  Hope that helps!   <Indeed it does... And I do have this work... in fact, Helmut is an olde (we're no longer middle age) friend... He and friends met up w/ us some Interzoo ago in Dipelsdorf! > Take care, -Lynn Z <Will do. Now down in Cozumel; sans JoshS unfortunately. His cold/flu is too bad. BobF> <I'm sorry to hear about Josh, but am glad that you're no doubt having some good times/diving in Cozumel.  Enjoy and Happy Holidays! -Lynn <<Ah yes. And to you and your husband. BobF>>