Red-Handed Shrimp

Palaemon serenus

Systematics: Caridea Family Palaemonidae

Distinguishing Characters:
The red-handed shrimp is glassy clear, with red stripes across the wrists of its long second chelipeds. The body is up to 60 mm long and sharply bent between the fourth and fifth segments of the abdomen.

Habitat and Distribution:
The red-handed shrimp is common in rock pools in southeastern Australia.

General Biology:
This shrimp is frequently seen as a pair of red dots and another of black dots moving across the floor of rock pools. These are the bands on the chelipeds and the eyes; the body is quite transparent. The species is a scavenger cleaning up dead fish and shellfish. When disturbed it retreats quickly to the shelter of rocky overhangs and algae.

Feedback and queries should be sent to the Discovery Centre at Museum Victoria.
Please note, the Discovery Centre can help you only with questions about crustaceans from southeastern Australia. It can not advise on the care of pet hermit crabs or on crustaceans from other regions.