Devaney’s Coral Shrimp
Stenopus devaneyi
Coral shrimps (family Stenopodidae, genus Stenopus)
have been favorites since the beginning of the modern
marine aquarium hobby, no doubt because they are fabulously attractive and exhibit very interesting pair behavior; they are also simple to maintain. The genus contains
more than 10 species. By far the best known and com-monest is the Banded Coral Shrimp (Stenopus hispidus),
but a number of other coral shrimp species are also seen
more or less regularly in the trade. These include the
Blue-banded Coral Shrimp (S. tenuirostris) and the Hawaiian Coral Shrimp (S. pyrsonatus), which, at around
4 inches ( 10 cm) long, is one of the largest members of
its genus. By contrast, the very small ( 1¼-inch/3-cm)
Blue-legged Coral Shrimp (S. cyanoscelis) is only rarely
imported. But the marine aquarium hobby repeatedly
comes up with surprises for us all when it comes to the
importation of less well known, rarer, or even new species. Devaney’s Coral Shrimp (S. devaneyi), which I recently saw for sale at a shop in Brakel, Germany, was certainly one such surprise. This is a true rarity, which I had
previously seen only once in my more than 30 years as a
marine aquarist, although they may become more available as deeper-water collection becomes more common.
References to S. devaneyi are exceedingly scarce in
the literature. It was first described by Goy & Randall
in 1984. There are illustrations and a certain amount of
information to be found in Baensch & Debelius (1992)
and Debelius & Kuiter (2009), as well as the Baensch
Marine Atlas 1. According to these authors, the body of
Devaney’s Coral Shrimp can be up to 2. 3 inches ( 6 cm)
long, with the long white antennae extending significantly further. The species is very easy to identify by the
characteristic pair of bold red spots on the backs of both
males and females.
