White-banded Cleaner Shrimp (species: Lysmata amboinensis) in taxonomy (Lizard Island Field Guide)
Animalia > Bilateria > Protostomia > Ecdysozoa > Arthropoda > Crustacea > Malacostraca > Decapoda > Hippolytidae > Lysmata > Lysmata amboinensis (gallery)
Lysmata amboinensis
White-banded Cleaner Shrimp


©Anne Hoggett: One of a pair of Lysmata amboinensis in a crevice at Cobia Hole, Lizard Island.

©Anne Hoggett: A pair of Lysmata amboinensis in a crevice at Cobia Hole, Lizard Island. This individual appears to contain eggs.

©Anne Hoggett: A pair of Lysmata amboinensis in a crevice at Cobia Hole, Lizard Island.

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Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Malacostraca
Order Decapoda
Family Hippolytidae
Genus Lysmata
Species Lysmata amboinensis

Lizard Island Field Guide
Lizard Island area: all known taxa

Colours

                        

Distinguishing features

Colouration distinctive: red back with full-length, central longitudinal stripe; yellow sides and belly; long white antennae; a pair of white spots on each side of tail. Occupy crevices and act as cleaners.

Size

  • Up to 6 cm (Length)

Synonyms

Comments

Shrimps in the genus Lysmata and another related genus are the only known crustaceans that are protandric simulataneous hermaphrodites. They mature and initially reproduce as as males and later develop female gonads and become functional hermaphrodites (Baeza, 2010).

by Anne Hoggett

Distribution


©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution

Local abundance

  • Lizard Island: Rare. The specimens from Cobia Hole on 21 Oct 2017 appear to be the first record of the species from the northern Great Barrier Reef.

Web resources

References

References that assist with identification

  • Humann, P. and N. Deloach (2010). Reef Creature Identification: Tropical Pacific New World Publications Inc., Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

Other references

  • Baeza, A. (2010). Molecular systematics of peppermint and cleaner shrimps: phylogeny and taxonomy of the genera Lysmata and Exhippolysmata (Crustacea: Caridea: Hippolytidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 160: 254-265. LIRS catalog number LIRS 90244.