Lysmata grabhami
Look for red-and-white antennae shrimp on Lanzarote and Tenerife reefs, in water 19 to 29C, spotted year-round.
A slender, translucent-bodied shrimp with bold red longitudinal stripes running down its back and extremely long, thin white antennae that it waves out into the current. It sits low on rock or reef structure rather than swimming freely, and its whitish tail fan with red spotting is a useful close-up marker. Size in the water is small, easy to miss unless you are looking into crevices or at cleaning stations.
Divers usually find it tucked into cracks, ledges and overhangs on rocky reef, often near or in the open where its white antennae give it away first. It tends to hold its position rather than dart for cover when a torch or camera comes close, which makes it one of the easier small crustaceans to get a steady look at. Around cleaning stations it can be seen working over resting fish, picking at parasites and dead skin.
It runs cleaning stations where fish queue up and hold still to be picked over for parasites, a real working relationship rather than a chance encounter.
No clear seasonal pattern shows up in sighting data, and with a comfortable range of 19.4 to 28.6C it is logged on Canary Islands and Madeira reefs across the year rather than in a specific window.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Most reliably logged across the Canary Islands, especially Lanzarote, Tenerife and El Hierro, with strong numbers also on Madeira Island and Porto Santo. Outside the eastern Atlantic it turns up on Caribbean sites in Carriacou (Grenada) and Martinique, and it has a foothold in Cape Verde too.
Mapping where Cleaner Shrimp is logged…
The Canary Islands are the strongest area, particularly Lanzarote, Tenerife and El Hierro, with good numbers also around Madeira Island and Porto Santo. It also shows up on Caribbean sites in Carriacou, Grenada and in Martinique.
Sightings show no strong seasonal pattern, so it is logged across the year on Canary Islands and Madeira reefs where water stays between roughly 19 and 29C.
Look for a small translucent shrimp with red stripes along its back and unusually long white antennae trailing out from rocky crevices. It usually stays still on the reef rather than swimming, which makes it easier to spot once you know the pattern.
No, they pose no risk to divers and will often stay put while you get a close look at a cleaning station in action.
They run cleaning stations on the reef where fish deliberately stop and hold still to have the shrimp pick parasites and dead tissue off their bodies. It is one of the clearest examples of a service relationship you can watch play out on a dive.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Freshwater Shrimp
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