Cuban cave shrimp  (Barbouria cubensis)

Classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List 2006 (1).

This is a brightly coloured shrimp with an arched body and rostrum. The colour of the shrimp varies from vivid red and orange to pale yellow and cream, with numerous tiny white spots that change in the light from cream to reddish. The antennae and walking legs are white. Adult males and females are superficially indistinguishable (2).

Recorded from the Bahaman Islands of Abaco, Exumas and San Salvador; the Caicos Island of Providenciales; the Cayman Islands; Bermuda; Cuba; and Jamaica (2).

Found free-swimming in the brackish pools within and outside anchialine limestone caves, open to sunlight (2).

Nothing is known about the biology of this species.

The threats to this species are unknown.

There are currently no conservation measures underway targeting this species.

For more information on this Cuban cave shrimp see:

• Anchialine Caves and Cave Fauna of the World:
  http://www.tamug.edu/cavebiology/fauna/shrimp/B_cubensis.html

• Anchialine: coastal bodies of standing waters that have no surface connections to the ocean but display both tidal fluctuations and salinity ranges characteristic of fresh and brackish waters, indicating the presence of subsurface connections to the watertable and ocean.
• Rostrum: Central, forward-projecting and occasionally long spine between the eyes of crustaceans.

1. IUCN Red List (January, 2007)
   http://www.iucnredlist.org
2. Anchialine Caves and Cave Fauna of the World (February, 2007)
   http://www.tamug.edu/cavebiology/fauna/shrimp/B_cubensis.html