The Caridea, commonly known as caridean shrimp or true shrimp, are an infraorder of
shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...
within the order
Decapoda
The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is es ...
. This infraorder contains all species of true shrimp. They are found widely around the world in both
fresh and
salt water. Many other animals with similar names – such as the mud shrimp of
Axiidea and the boxer shrimp of
Stenopodidea – are not true shrimp, but many have evolved features similar to true shrimp.
Biology
Carideans are found in every kind of aquatic habitat, with the majority of species being marine. Around a quarter of the described species are found in
fresh water, however, including almost all the members of the species-rich family
Atyidae
Atyidae is a family of shrimp, present in all tropical and most temperate waters of the world. Adults of this family are almost always confined to fresh water. This is the only family in the superfamily Atyoidea.
Genera and species
The followi ...
and the
Palaemonidae
Palaemonidae is a family of shrimp in the order Decapoda. Many species are carnivores that eat small invertebrates, and can be found in any aquatic habitat except the deep sea. One significant genus is '' Macrobrachium'', which contains commer ...
subfamily
Palaemoninae.
They include several commercially important species, such as ''
Macrobrachium rosenbergii'', and are found on every continent except
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...
.
The marine species are found at depths to ,
and from the tropics to the polar regions.
In addition to the great variety in habitat, carideans vary greatly in form, from species a few millimetres long when fully grown,
to those that grow to over a foot long.
Except where
secondarily lost, shrimp have one pair of stalked eyes, although they are sometimes covered by the
carapace, which protects the
cephalothorax
The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''ceph ...
.
The carapace also surrounds the
gill
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they ar ...
s, through which water is pumped by the action of the mouthparts.
Most carideans are
omnivorous, but some are specialised for particular modes of feeding. Some are
filter feeders, using their
setose (bristly) legs as a sieve; some scrape
algae
Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from ...
from rocks. The snapping shrimp of the genus ''
Alpheus'' snap their claws to create a shock wave that stuns prey. Many
cleaner shrimp, which groom reef fish and feed on their parasites and
necrotic tissue, are carideans.
In turn, carideans are eaten by various animals, particularly fish and seabirds, and frequently host
bopyrid parasites.
Lifecycle
Unlike
Dendrobranchiates, Carideans brood their eggs rather than releasing them into the water. Caridean larvae undergo all naupliar development within the egg, and eclose as a
zoea. The zoea stage feeds on
phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
P ...
. There can be as few as two zoea stages, (e.g. some freshwater
Palaemonidae
Palaemonidae is a family of shrimp in the order Decapoda. Many species are carnivores that eat small invertebrates, and can be found in any aquatic habitat except the deep sea. One significant genus is '' Macrobrachium'', which contains commer ...
), or as many as 13, (e.g. some
Pandalidae). The post-zoeal larva, often called a decapodid, resembles a miniature adult, but retains some larval characteristics. The decapodid larva will metamorphose a final time into a post-larval juvenile: a young shrimp having all the characteristics of adults. Most adult carideans are
benthic
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...
animals living primarily on the sea floor.
Common species include ''
Pandalus borealis'' (the "pink shrimp"), ''
Crangon crangon'' (the "brown shrimp") and the
snapping shrimp of the genus ''Alpheus''. Depending on the species and location, they grow from about long, and live between 1.0 and 6.5 years.
Commercial fishing
![Wild caridean shrimp capture time series](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Wild_caridean_shrimp_capture_time_series.png)
The most significant commercial species among the carideans is ''
Pandalus borealis'', followed by ''
Crangon crangon''. The wild-capture production of ''P. borealis'' is about ten times that of ''C. crangon''. In 1950, the position was reversed, with the capture of ''C. crangon'' about ten times that of ''P. borealis''.
In 2010, the global aquaculture of all shrimp and prawn species (3.5 million tonnes) slightly exceeded the global wild capture (3.2 million tonnes).
No carideans were significantly involved in aquaculture, but about 430,000 tonnes were captured in the wild. That is, about 13% of the global wild capture, or about 6% of the total production of all shrimp and prawns, were carideans.
Systematics and related taxa
Shrimp of the infraorder Caridea are more closely related to
lobster
Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...
s and
crabs than they are to the members of the sub-order
Dendrobranchiata
Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea, by the b ...
(prawns). Biologists distinguish these two groups based on differences in their
gill
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they ar ...
structures. The gill structure is
lamellar in carideans but branching in dendrobranchiates. The easiest practical way to separate true shrimp from dendrobranchiates is to examine the second
abdominal segment
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the tor ...
. The second segment of a carideans overlaps both the first and the third segment, while the second segment of a dendrobranchiate overlaps only the third segment. They also differ in that carideans typically have two pairs of
chelae
A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-like organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through New Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds. ...
(claws), while dendrobranchiates have three.
A third group, the
Stenopodidea, contains around 70 species and differs from the other groups in that the third pairs of legs is greatly enlarged.
Procarididea are the sister group to the Caridea, comprising only eleven species.
The
cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...
below shows Caridea's relationships to other relatives within
Decapoda
The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is es ...
, from analysis by Wolfe ''et al.'', 2019.
The below
cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...
shows the internal relationships of eight selected
families within Caridea, with the
Atyidae
Atyidae is a family of shrimp, present in all tropical and most temperate waters of the world. Adults of this family are almost always confined to fresh water. This is the only family in the superfamily Atyoidea.
Genera and species
The followi ...
(freshwater shrimp) being the most
basal
Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''.
Science
* Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure
* Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...
:
Taxonomy
The infraorder Caridea is divided into 15 superfamilies:
Fossil record
The
fossil record
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
of the Caridean is sparse, with only 57 exclusively fossil species known.
The earliest of these cannot be assigned to any family, but date from the
Lower Jurassic and
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
.
A number of extinct genera cannot be placed in any superfamily:
*''
Acanthinopus
''Acanthinopus gibbosus'' is an extinct species of shrimp placed in its own genus, ''Acanthinopus'', which has not been assigned to a family. It was found in Norian ( Upper Triassic) sediments of the Zorzino Limestone in northern Italy
Ita ...
''
Pinna, 1974
*''
Alcmonacaris
''Alcmonacaris winkleri'' is an extinct Late Jurassic species of shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the ...
''
Polz, 2009
*''
Bannikovia
''Bannikovia'' is an extinct genus of shrimp in the order Decapoda. It existed in Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia ...
''
Garassino & Teruzzi, 1996
*''
Blaculla
''Blaculla'' is an extinct genus of shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some ...
''
Münster, 1839
*''
Buergerocaris
''Buergerocaris'' is an extinct genus of shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although ...
''
Schweigert & Garassino, 2004
*''
Gampsurus
''Gampsurus'' is an extinct genus of shrimp in the order Decapoda. It existed in Germany during the Campanian stage of the Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is th ...
''
von der Marck, 1863
*''
Hefriga
''Hefriga'' is an extinct genus of shrimp in the order Decapoda. It contains three species, and lived in the Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the ...
''
Münster, 1839
*''
Leiothorax
''Leiothorax'' is an extinct genus of shrimp in the order Decapoda
The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfis ...
''
Pinna, 1974
*''
Parvocaris''
Bravi & Garassino, 1998
*''
Pinnacaris''
Garassino & Teruzzi, 1993
See also
*
*
Dendrobranchiata
Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea, by the b ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q80117
Arthropod infraorders
Commercial crustaceans
Edible crustaceans
Extant Early Jurassic first appearances
Seafood
Taxa named by James Dwight Dana
nrm:Chèrvette
simple:Shrimp