69 — Painted shrimp, Alope spinifrons

Alope spinifrons, Guinusia chabrus,
and Oulactis magna, Piha Bch, 24/11/15.

The painted shrimp Alope spinifrons* is small species of shrimp from the family Hippolytidae. They are found at and around low tide on rocky shores throughout New Zealand and can reach about 60mm in size.

Alope spinifrons, Piha Bch, 24/11/15.

Alope spinifrons and Guinusia chabrus,
Piha Bch, 24/11/15.

They are a nocturnal species and spend the daylight hours hidden in crevices or under rocks. The emerge at night and feed during the high tide. They are detritovores and/or scavengers.

The ones shown here had become trapped in a low tidal rock pool at Piha Beach. The tide was coming in, but the rock pool was rapidly filling up with sand, trapping the painted shrimp along with juveniles of the crab Guinusia chabrus (Linnaeus, 1758).

By the way, shrimp and prawn mean the same thing scientifically.

 *(H. Milne Edwards, 1837 [in Milne Edwards, 1834–1840])

Alope spinifrons, Guinusia chabrus,
and Oulactis magna, Piha Bch, 24/11/15.

More info: 
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Vic78_80Zool-t1-g1-t1-body-d8-d3-d1.html