One of the 8 shrimps on WAnimals

Malacostracans · Decapoda · Alpheidae

Tiger Pistol Shrimp

Alpheus bellulus

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

The tiger pistol shrimp is a shrimp of the family Alpheidae in the order Decapoda.

Size

3 cm – 5 cm

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

Fun facts

  • fisiologíaIt can snap one claw shut so fast that it creates a cavitation bubble, whose collapse gives off a crack and a flash of light, much as the mantis shrimp does.
  • The shrimp, almost blind, keeps an antenna in contact with the goby at all times; if the fish senses danger and moves, both dart straight back into the burrow.
  • The snapping of pistol shrimp colonies is one of the loudest sources of noise in the coastal ocean and interferes with sonar.
  • It snaps its large claw shut at more than 100 km/h, generating a cavitation bubble whose collapse produces a crack of some 210 decibels that stuns its prey.
  • The collapse of that bubble briefly reaches temperatures close to 5,500 °C and gives off a flash of light invisible to the naked eye, lasting between 300 picoseconds and 10 nanoseconds.
  • It lives in obligate symbiosis with gobies of the genera Amblyeleotris, Cryptocentrus and Stonogobiops: the shrimp, which sees very poorly, digs and maintains the burrow; the fish keeps watch and signals danger with a flick of its fin.
  • The partnership begins early in development and usually lasts for life.
  • If it loses the claw, it grows back at the next moult.

Life cycle & biology

Habitat & environment
Sandy and rubble bottoms beside coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheus_bellulus

Related species

Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Tiger Pistol Shrimp — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.

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