The Decapoda or decapods are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is estimated to contain nearly 15,000 species in around 2,700 genera, with around 3,300 fossil species. Nearly half of these species are crabs, with the shrimp and Anomura including hermit crabs, porcelain crabs, squat lobsters making up the bulk of the remainder. The earliest fossil decapod is the Devonian Palaeopalaemon.
Lysmata amboinensis is an omnivorous shrimp species known by several common names including the Pacific cleaner shrimp. It is considered a cleaner shrimp as eating parasites and dead tissue from fish makes up a large part of its diet. The species is a natural part of the coral reef ecosystem and is widespread across the tropics typically living at depths of 5–40 metres (16–131 ft).
Stenopus hispidus is a shrimp-like decapod crustacean belonging to the infraorder Stenopodidea. Common names include coral banded shrimp and banded cleaner shrimp.
The spotted cleaner shrimp, is a kind of cleaner shrimp common to the Caribbean Sea. These shrimp live among the tentacles of several species of sea anemones. They sway their body and wave their antennae in order to attract fish from which they eat dead tissue, algae and parasites.
Cleaner shrimp is a common name for a number of swimming decapod crustaceans, that clean other organisms of parasites. They belong to any of three families, Hippolytidae, Palaemonidae, and Stenopodidae . The last of these families is more closely related to lobsters and crabs than it is to the remaining families. The term "cleaner shrimp" is sometimes used more specifically for the family Hippolytidae and the genus Lysmata.
The yellow-edged moray, also known as yellow-margin(ed) moray, leopard moray, and speckled moray, is a moray eel of the family Muraenidae, found in the Indo-Pacific Oceans at depths to 150 m (500 ft).
Panulirus argus, the Caribbean spiny lobster, is a species of spiny lobster that lives on reefs and in mangrove swamps in the western Atlantic Ocean.
Panulirus versicolor is a species of spiny lobster that lives in tropical reefs in the Indo-Pacific. Other names include painted rock lobster, common rock lobster, bamboo lobster, blue lobster, and blue spiny lobster. P. versicolor is one of the three most common varieties of spiny lobster in Sri Lanka, alongside Panulirus homarus and Panulirus ornatus.
Thor amboinensis, commonly known as the squat shrimp or sexy shrimp, is a species of shrimp found across the Indo-West Pacific and in parts of the Atlantic Ocean. It lives symbiotically on corals, sea anemones and other marine invertebrates in shallow reef communities.
Ancylomenes magnificus, also known as the magnificent anemone shrimp, is a species of cleaner shrimp common to the Western Pacific Ocean at depths of 3–29 metres (10–95 ft). They are commonly found on stony coral, Catalaphyllia and the sea anemone, Dofleinia armata.
Dardanus megistos, the white-spotted hermit crab or spotted hermit crab, is a species of hermit crab belonging to the family Diogenidae.
Urocaridella antonbruunii, common names clear cleaner shrimp or red-white cleaner shrimp, is a species of shrimp belonging to the family Palaemonidae. It was described by A. J. Bruce in 1967. It is one of the species that are known as cleaner shrimps.
Stenopus spinosus is a shrimp-like decapod crustacean belonging to the infraorder Stenopodidea.
Ancylomenes pedersoni, sometimes known as Pederson's shrimp and Pederson's cleaner shrimp, is a species of cleaner shrimp. It is part of the genus Ancylomenes and was described in 1958 by Fenner A. Chace Jr. as Periclimenes pedersoni. Ancylomenes pedersoni is found in the Caribbean Sea, often associated with a sea anemone, at depths of 1 to 15 metres. They are often found on the reefs off Bermuda.
Shrimp are decapod crustaceans with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata. More narrow definitions may be restricted to Caridea, to smaller species of either group or to only the marine species. Under a broader definition, shrimp may be synonymous with prawn, covering stalk-eyed swimming crustaceans with long, narrow muscular tails (abdomens), long whiskers (antennae), and slender legs. Any small crustacean which resembles a shrimp tends to be called one. They swim forward by paddling with swimmerets on the underside of their abdomens, although their escape response is typically repeated flicks with the tail driving them backwards very quickly. Crabs and lobsters have strong walking legs, whereas shrimp have thin, fragile legs which they use primarily for perching.
Lysmata grabhami is a species of saltwater shrimp in the family Hippolytidae. It was first described by Gordon in 1935. It occurs in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean and is a cleaner shrimp, operating a cleaning station to which fish come to have parasites removed.
Panulirus guttatus, the spotted spiny lobster or Guinea chick lobster, is a species of spiny lobster that lives on shallow rocky reefs in the tropical West Atlantic and Caribbean Sea.
Cinetorhynchus rigens is a species of shrimp in the family Rhynchocinetidae. Common names include mechanical shrimp, Atlantic dancing shrimp, red night shrimp and red coral shrimp. It occurs in shallow water in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
Stenopus pyrsonotus is a shrimp-like decapod crustacean belonging to the infraorder Stenopodidea, native to the Indo-West Pacific region. Common names include flameback coral shrimp, ghost boxing shrimp and cave shrimp; the species is sometimes kept in reef aquariums.
Alpheus armatus is a species of snapping shrimp in the family Alpheidae, found in shallow water in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It lives in association with a sea anemone such as Bartholomea annulata, clearing out sand from the cracks and crevices in which the sea anemone often lives.
