Lysmata debelius

Identification: the body is bright red, with conspicuous white antennae and white tips on the third to fifth pairs of legs; white dots mark the cephalothorax and legs. Depending on where it comes from, the dots are limited to the carapace or cover the whole body. A population from the Maldives was described as a separate species, Lysmata splendida, recognised by white dots on the abdomen. The species was described in 1983 by A. J. Bruce from Philippine specimens and named after Helmut Debelius, who collected them.

In the wild it works as a cleaner shrimp on Indo-Pacific reefs, like Lysmata amboinensis and L. grabhami; SeaLifeBase records it at 20 to 30 m in French Polynesia. It sets up cleaning stations, removes parasites and dead tissue from fish that present themselves, and also scavenges the bottom for meaty bits. It is most active at night.

Reproduction: being a hermaphrodite, it can mate with any other individual. Its moulting, mating and hatching cycle is the same as that of Lysmata wurdemanni: each pair releases a batch of larvae (zoeae) every week. Larvae have been observed in captivity. The species is not evaluated by the IUCN and not listed by CITES.