Banded Coral Shrimp
Stenopus hispidus
Seastar Shrimp
Zenopontonia soror
About
This tiny shrimp spends its whole life on a starfish. It often changes colour to blend into its host's skin. To find one, look closely under a starfish on the reef.
Also known as: sea star shrimp, starfish shrimp
How to tell it apart
This species is easy to confuse with the imperial shrimp (Zenopontonia rex), a close relative with a similar shape. The host gives it away: the imperial shrimp lives on a sea cucumber or a large mollusc, while the seastar shrimp lives only on starfish.
Appearance
This is a small shrimp with a short, wide snout-like part called a rostrum, which curves downward. Its body has small white spots over a main colour that matches its starfish host. It is blue on the blue starfish Linckia laevigata. It is bright red with a pale stripe down the back on the crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster. On Culcita starfish it is plainer, with fewer spots, and can be blue, maroon, white, yellow, or pale green.
Habitat
It lives on coral reefs across the shallow tropical Indo-Pacific. It always stays on a starfish, usually on the underside, where it is hidden from view.
Did you know?
Up to fifty of these shrimp can crowd onto a single starfish at once. They feed on the mucus it makes. They also shelter under its protection from predators.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
