Description: A large prawn up to 6 cm long, with a translucent round body bearing red-brown and yellow lines. The first two pairs of walking legs have claws and bear yellow and red- brown banding. Short, straight rostrum with 7-9 dorsal teeth, 3 are located behind the eye socket and 3 are ventral.

Habitat: Found on lower rocky shores and sometimes in rockpools on the mid-shore. Shallow sublittoral.

Distribution: Found on all coasts around Britain and Northern Ireland, with a few scattered records from the west coast of Ireland.

Similar Species: Could be confused with Palaemon serratus, careful inspection of rostrum to count number of teeth can clarify. Microscopic examination of mandible palp to count number of segments (2 in P. elegans) can also distinguish this species.

Key Identification Features:

• Rounded body, translucent with red-brown and yellow banding.
• First two pairs of walking legs bear claws and red-brown and yellow banding.
• Rostrum with 7-9 dorsal teeth.
• Mandible palp in 2 segments.

Distribution Map from NBN: Palaemon elegans at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Palaemon elegans at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

WoRMS: Palaemon elegans at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Palaemon elegans Rathke, 1836. AphiaID: 107614.

Classification: Biota; Animalia; Arthropoda; Crustacea; Multicrustacea; Malacostraca; Eumalacostraca; Eucarida; Decapoda; Pleocyemata; Caridea; Palaemonoidea; Palaemonidae; Palaemon