Info
Alpheus is a genus of snapping shrimp of the family Alpheidae. This genus contains in excess of 250 species, making this the most species-rich genus of shrimp. Like other snapping shrimp, the claws of Alpheus are asymmetrical, with one of the claws enlarged for making a popping noise
Alpheus formosus is a Western Atlantic snapping shrimp first described from Florida. Associated with fringing reef habitats, this species lives among turtle grass, or in crevices of rocks, living corals, and coral rubble, and sabellariid polychaete reefs.
Distribution:Tropical Western Atlantic in Jamaica, Haiti, Netherlands Antilles and Panama.
Biology:often in in coral reefs and lagoons (especially in exposed or deeper regions); coral rubble and large stones, associated with the sea anemone Bartholomea annulata (see life history).
Synonymised names
Alpheus poeyi Guérin-Méneville, 1855 [in Guérin-Méneville, 1855-1856]