Banded Coral Shrimp - a little and beautiful Sea Shrimp

The Banded Coral Shrimp is a common sight on nearly every Indo-Pacific ocean reef.  Scientific name of this little and beautiful shrimp is “Stenopus hispidus”. It is also known as a Coral Banded Shrimp, Banded Boxer Shrimp, Banded Prawn, Barber-Pole Shrimp, Carid Shrimps, Cleaner Shrimp, Boxer Shrimps, Boxing Shrimp, Coral Banded Boxing Shrimp, Banded Coral Shrimp, Red banded Coral Shrimp or Cleaner Shrimp, it often feeds on the parasites that cooperative fish or eels allow it to pick off their bodies.

A pair of Banded Coral Shrimp

1 to 2 in. (2 to 5 cm) in size and 3-130 ft. (1-40 m) in depth Stenopus hispidus is a shrimp-like decapod crustacean, belonging to the infraorder Stenopodidea. Although it looks like a shrimp, it is not a true shrimp.  It is a few centimetres long and has red bands around its body, and long, white antennae. The body is covered with short defensive spines. Like other decapods they can use the tail to escape backwards rapidly (the caridoid escape reaction).

A beautiful Banded Coral Shrimp

In the wild, the Banded Coral Shrimp is a scavenger. In the home aquarium, it will accept most flaked and frozen foods. While molting, this little Shrimp often hide from sight for 1-2 days in the rocks of the reef. The Banded Coral Shrimp can be found in Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida, Bermuda, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Indo-Pacific, Hawaii.