Description 

Carapace: The whole carapace is red though it becomes very dark, almost black, dorsally. The colour is usually solid but it may be broken up into longitudinal streaks that run into the markings on the abdomen. This is a bit of a mixed bag of shrimp and it is likely to contain several species. It is very variable and quite possibly some of these are variations on the Pink Pyjama Snapping Shrimp. They all differed from the classsic Pink Pyjama Snapping Shrimp in the solid colour rather than marbled pattern in the chelipeds. They ranged in colour from dark red to brown and even grey. They have 9 shrimpgoby associations in common. 

The abdomen has four double rows of red stripes on each side. A denser double red line runs along the top. There is usually a broken white band on segments 1 and 4. 

The rostrum is pale and the antennules and often the antennae, are contrasting dark red. This is true even in relatively pale individuals. 

The legs are bright red with pale joints. 

The tail has red scutes and may have a few setae. 

The chelae are solid dark red, rarely marbled. The claws are white. 

Similar Shrimps

Other Pyjama shrimp have more muted colours and stripes extend more consistently onto the carapace. The red pyjama shrimp is distinctive because of its bright, dark colour, long legs and more active temperament. Pale individuals may look similar to the Pink Pyjama Shrimp. The distinction can be made by the solid red colour of the chelae, the dark red antennules, and an overall red body colour with strongly marked abdominal stripes in contrast to the pastel grey and pink of the Pink Pyjama Snapping Shrimp. 

Nomenclature 

This is one of the shrimps commonly grouped under the species name Alpheus ochrostriatus (itself an invalid name). The group can be split into four, possibly more, by colour, habitat and associations. These are the Yellow Pyjama Snapping Shrimp, the Pink Pyjama Snapping Shrimp, the Brown Pyjama Snapping Shrimp and the Red Pyjama Snapping Shrimp. 

We have not seen this shrimp form a pair with any of the other Pyjama Snapping Shrimps described on this website.