Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

The skunk cleaner shrimp is a reef superstar, not just for its bright colours, but for its job! With its white racing stripe and vivid red body, this shrimp is like the spa therapist of the ocean, cleaning up reef fish, one scale at a time.

Found in tropical reefs across the Indo-Pacific, these shrimp live in small caves or crevices, often in pairs. They're known for setting up “cleaning stations,” where fish line up to be serviced. The shrimp climbs all over them, including into mouths, and around gills, eating parasites and dead skin. It’s a win/win with the fish get cleaned, and the shrimp get a meal.

Unlike many crustaceans, skunk cleaner shrimp are simultaneous hermaphrodites—every adult has both male and female reproductive organs and can take turns fertilising each other’s eggs. After mating, females produce a cloud of tiny larvae that drift into the planktonic sea.

These shrimp are peaceful, fascinating to watch, and incredibly helpful to reef health, both in the wild and in home aquariums.