Periclimenes soror | |
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Starfish shrimp (Periclimenes soror) on a Culcita schmideliana. | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Crustacea |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Infraorder: | Caridea |
Family: | Palaemonidae |
Genus: | Periclimenes |
Species: | P. soror |
Binomial name | |
Periclimenes soror Nobili, 1904 |
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.
On an Acanthaster planci
On a Culcita schmideliana
It lives commensally on starfishes, including the "crown-of-thorns" starfish, Acanthaster planci.
This species has a wide distribution across the Indo-Pacific and in the Gulf of Panama.