Brief Summary
Coral shrimp, Stenopus hispidus (olivier, 1811), belongs to one of the three families that play a role in cleaning fishes (Zhang et al., 1998). It is one of the most popular cleaner shrimps in the marine ornamental trade.
S. hispidus a reef associated shrimp with a world wide distribution, ranging from Indo-Pacific to Atlantic regions in tropical and sub-tropical waters.
Coral shrimps are known to remove and consume injured or dead tissues, ectoparasites and excess food particles from fishes (Limbaugh et al., 1961). Once they reach the adult stage, they are found in crevices or overhangs in coral reefs at different depth ranging from less than 1 meter and down to 210 meters. It is thought that they move over a very limited area and males exhibit territorial behaviour within that living space (Fletcher et al., 1995).
These shrimps are found in reproductive pairs and are belived to pair as juveniles and grow up together (Young, 1979). Mating can only take place when a female is vulnerable in the ecdysis molting phase.
S. hispidus performs four distinct courtship behaviors in order to acquire its mate. There are no natural predators of S. hispidus that were observed to prey on this shrimp.
The coral banded shrimp is a popular aquarium species. Because of their colorful body and relative ease in which they can be maintained in an aquarium environment Stenopus hispidus is by far the most valuable and abundant ornamental species (Hair et. al 2004)
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