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- ›Alpheoidea
Snapping Shrimps
Alpheidae
Alpheidae (also known as the snapping shrimp, pistol shrimp, or cracker shrimp) is a family of the shrimp infraorder Caridea that is characterized by having an enlarged and highly modified chelae ("claws") on one leg of their first pair, which is used for various purposes. Around half of the species, such as those in the genus Potamalpheops, lack this trait and have been dubbed "non-snapping shrimp".
The family is diverse and worldwide in distribution, consisting of about 1,119 species within 38 or more genera. The two most speciose genera are Alpheus and Synalpheus, with species numbering well over 330 and 160, respectively. Most snapping shrimp dig burrows and are common inhabitants of coral reefs, submerged seagrass flats, and oyster reefs. While most genera and species are found in tropical and temperate coastal and marine waters, Betaeus inhabits cold seas and Potamalpheops has a cosmopolitan distribution including being found in freshwater caves.
48 branches of this family, most-observed first
Alpheus
genusAlpheus
Athanas
genusAthanas
Synalpheus
genusSynalpheus
Betaeus
genusBetaeus
Betaeopsis
genusBetaeopsis
Arete
genusArete
Alpheopsis
genusAlpheopsis
Metabetaeus
genusMetabetaeus
Automate
genusAutomate
Potamalpheops
genusPotamalpheops
Salmoneus
genusSalmoneus
Metalpheus
genusMetalpheus
Athanopsis
genusAthanopsis
Triacanthoneus
genusTriacanthoneus
Aretopsis
genusAretopsis
Leptalpheus
genusLeptalpheus
Racilius
genusRacilius
Thuylamea
genusThuylamea
Coronalpheus
genusCoronalpheus
Yagerocaris
genusYagerocaris
Nennalpheus
genusNennalpheus
Rugathanas
genusRugathanas
Pomagnathus
genusPomagnathus
Prionalpheus
genusPrionalpheus
Stenalpheops
genusStenalpheops
Vexillipar
genusVexillipar
Caligoneus
genusCaligoneus
Acanthanas
genusAcanthanas
Amphibetaeus
genusAmphibetaeus
Bannereus
genusBannereus
Batella
genusBatella
Bermudacaris
genusBermudacaris
Bruceopsis
genusBruceopsis
Coutieralpheus
genusCoutieralpheus
Deioneus
genusDeioneus
Fenneralpheus
genusFenneralpheus
Harperalpheus
genusHarperalpheus
Jengalpheops
genusJengalpheops
Leptathanas
genusLeptathanas
Leslibetaeus
genusLeslibetaeus
Mohocaris
genusMohocaris
Orygmalpheus
genusOrygmalpheus
Parabetaeus
genusParabetaeus
Pseudalpheopsis
genusPseudalpheopsis
Pseudathanas
genusPseudathanas
Pterocaris
genusPterocaris
Richalpheus
genusRichalpheus
Notalpheus
genusNotalpheus
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Alpheidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 51196.