Ar.77 Hippolysmata sp (Veined shrimp)

 

Ar.77                                                    Hippolysmata  sp (Veined shrimp)

 

Phylum   : Arthropoda

Class       : Malacostraca

Order      : Decapoda

Family    : Lysmatidae

Genus     : Hippolysmata

 

Description: 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. Its appearance is distinctive; the antennae are white as are the third pair of maxillipeds; the body is yellow, with a continuous white dorsal stripe running from head to telson, bordered with a longitudinal red stripe on either side; the legs are yellow, and the external branches of the uropods have a white stripe on the outer edge. It occurs in shallow water on either side of the tropical and sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean. It is typically found in reef environments. The shrimp waves its long white antennae to attract a fish, the fish poses, extending a fin or opening its mouth, the shrimp hops onto the fish and picks at the parasites until the fish disengages. The shrimp may occupy a single cleaning station for extended periods.