Caridea Temporal range: Lower Jurassic–Recent

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Heterocarpus ensifer

Scientific classification

Kingdom:
Animalia


Phylum:
Arthropoda


Subphylum:
Crustacea


Class:
Malacostraca


Order:
Decapoda


Suborder:
Pleocyemata


Infraorder:
Caridea Dana, 1852

Superfamilies

• Alpheoidea


• Atyoidea


• Bresilioidea


• Campylonotoidea


• Crangonoidea


• Galatheacaridoidea


• Nematocarcinoidea


• Oplophoroidea


• Palaemonoidea


• Pandaloidea


• Pasiphaeoidea


• Physetocaridoidea


• Procaridoidea


• Processoidea


• Psalidopodoidea


• Stylodactyloidea

Caridea is an infraorder within the order Decapoda, generally known as shrimp. They are swimming animals which are found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water.

Biology

Caridean shrimp are found in every kind of aquatic habitat, with the majority of species being marine. Around a quarter of the described species are found in fresh water, however, including almost all the members of the species-rich family Atyidae and the Palaemonidae subfamily Palaemoninae.^[1] They include several commercially important species, such as Macrobrachium rosenbergii, and are found on evrey continent except Antarctica.^[1] The marine species are found at depths of up to 5,000 metres (16,000 ft),^[2] and from the tropics to the polar regions.

As well as the great variety in habitat, shrimp vary greatly in form, from species a few millimetres long when fully grown,^[3] to those that grow to over a foot long.^[2] Except where secondarily lost, shrimp have one pair of stalked eyes, although they are sometimes covered by the carapace, which protects the cephalothorax.^[2] The carapace also surrounds the gills, through which water is pumped by the action of the mouthparts.^[2]

Most shrimp are omnivorous, but some are specialised for particular modes of feeding. Some are filter feeders, using their setose (bristly) legs as a sieve; some scrape algae from rocks. The snapping shrimp of the genus Alpheus snap their claws to create a shock wave that stuns prey. Many cleaner shrimp, which groom reef fish and feed on their parasites and necrotic tissue, are carideans.^[2] In turn, shrimp are eaten by various animals, particularly fish and seabirds, and frequently host bopyrid parasites.^[2]

Click on the link > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrimp