Caridina spongicola

Caridina spongicola
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Caridea
Family: Atyidae
Genus: Caridina
Species:
C. spongicola
Binomial name
Caridina spongicola
Zitzler & Cai, 2006

Caridina spongicola is a small species of freshwater shrimp from Sulawesi (Indonesia) that reaches 0.64 to 1.27 cm (0.25 to 0.5 in) in length. In the wild it strictly lives on an undescribed species of freshwater sponge, making it one of only two known commensal species of freshwater shrimp (the other is a Limnocaridina shrimp that lives in mussels in Lake Tanganyika, East Africa). It is popularly known as the harlequin shrimp, and also sometimes Celebes beauty shrimp or sponge shrimp in the aquarium trade. It is often confused with Caridina woltereckae, a larger and more contrastingly colored species found in the same region as C. spongicola.