Kingdom Animalia Class Malacostraca Family Palaemonidae Genus Periclimenes Order Decapoda | Subphylum Crustacea Infraorder Caridea Phylum Arthropoda Rank Species | |
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Similar Periclimenes, Culcita, Periclimenes brevicarpalis, Decapoda, Ancylomenes magnificus | ||
periclimenes soror
Periclimenes soror, also called the starfish shrimp, is a species of shrimp that lives as a symbiont with starfishes.Periclimenes soror is a species of little shrimp with a truncated rostris, and showing a wide variety of coats, but often with a distinctive white stripe or white dots pattern on the back. The rest of the body varies with the host starfish: it is often "a deep purple red" when living on Culcita, Protoreaster or Pentaceraster, but red with a white dorsal stripe when living on Acanthaster, and can also be transparent Adults reach up to 15 millimetres (0.6 in) long.
Contents
Ecology and behaviour
It lives commensally on starfishes, including the "crown-of-thorns" starfish, Acanthaster planci.
Distribution
This species has a wide distribution across the Indo-Pacific and in the Gulf of Panama.