An Account of Some Reef Associated Caridean Shrimps and Stomatopods of Andaman Islands

The infraorder Caridea is the major shrimp group in the world, containing almost 2,800 described species with estimates of twice that number of species yet to be exposed and described. They occur in all of the world's oceans, the Caridean shrimp reach their maximum level of species and generic diversification in the Indo-Pacific. In the tropical marine environment a lot of small species have evolved with specialized lifestyles, living commensally on and within a sort of species of sponges, corals, echinoderms, sea anemones. The exoskeletons of many carideans are totally transparent, particularly with juveniles or very tiny species, yet there are species that are very colorful.