Harlequin shrimp
Scientific name : Hymenocera elegans
Shrimp uniqie for shape and colour. White with large purplish blotches with blue margin. Blue and white striped legs. Antennae, massillipeds (jaw legs) and claws have flamboyant flattened expansions. 5 cm.
Unmistakable. Another species exists, Hymenocera picta, living in the central-eastern Pacific, with wine red blotches with yellowish edges. Some authors put all the harlequin shrimps under a single species name, H. picta. Discussion is still open, the colour difference could be a hint for 2 different species. The claws, antennae, maxillipedes expansions are used for communication and for the courtship behaviour. In pairs they attack their preys (starfish), turn them over and divour them starting from the tip of the arms, to keep them alive as long as possible. A single prey, larger than the predator, can last for days. Sometimes a starfish can escape, leaving an arm behind.
Associated organisms
It is a starfish predator, mainly of the genera Fromia, Linckia ,Nardoa and Acanthaster (the crown-of-thorns starfish, that can eat occasionally).
Habitat:
Coastal bay, Lagoon, Reef external slope
Distribution:
Indo-West Pacific
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