Cream, blotched with pink-purple, with flattened petal-shaped claws held out in front and leaf-like antennae that belong on no other shrimp. Five centimeters (2 in) at most, and worth every minute spent looking for one.
It eats starfish, and only starfish. A pair finds one, flips it onto its back with those oversized claws - which are levers, not weapons - and starts at the arm tip, feeding on the tube feet and soft tissue while the animal is alive. A large sea star takes days, and the shrimp will drag it back under a ledge and keep it there as a living larder.
The cruelty is efficient. Starfish regenerate, so a pair that eats one arm at a time can keep a single animal alive and productive for weeks, and some have been recorded feeding a starfish to keep it going. Crown-of-thorns is on the menu too, which makes this a small ally on a reef with an outbreak.
Pairs are long-term and territorial, and they hunt by smell: the shrimp follows chemical traces of starfish across the reef. Both sexes look alike, the female is larger, and she carries the eggs under her tail until they hatch.
- cream body blotched with large pink-purple spots edged in blue
- flattened petal-shaped claws held out in front, far larger than the head
- flat leaf-like antennae, unlike any other shrimp here
- length up to 5 cm
