Alpheidae - Ecology

Ecology

Some pistol shrimp species share burrows with goby fishes in a symbiotic relationship. The burrow is built and tended by the pistol shrimp, and the goby provides protection by watching out for danger. When both are out of the burrow, the shrimp maintains contact with the goby using its antenna. The goby, having the better vision, alerts the shrimp of danger using a characteristic tail movement, and then both retreat into the safety of the shared burrow. So far this association has been observed in species that inhabit coral reef habitats.

Social behavior has been discovered in the genus Synalpheus. The species Synalpheus regalis lives inside sponges in colonies that can number over 300 members. All of them are the offspring of a single large female, the queen, and possibly a single male. The offspring are divided into workers who care for the young and soldiers who protect the colony with their huge claws. Most of the soldiers are males. So far only a few social species have been described, but many scientists think it is likely that there are more species in the genus with complex social behavior that have not yet been found.

Pistol shrimp have also been noted for their ability to reverse claws. When the snapping claw is lost the missing limb will regenerate into a smaller claw and the original smaller appendage will grow into a new snapping claw. Laboratory research has shown that severing the nerve of the snapping claw induces the conversion of the smaller limb into a second snapping claw. This phenomenon of claw symmetry in snapping shrimp has only been documented once in nature.