Xiphocaris elongata (Guérin-Méneville, 1855)

Rogers, D. Christopher & Cruz-Rivera, Edwin, 2021, A preliminary survey of the inland aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Journal of Natural History 55 (13 - 14), pp. 799-850 : 815

Xiphocaris elongata (Guérin-Méneville, 1855)

This atyid shrimp was the most encountered decapod in St. Thomas ghuts during August but was absent in November. We found it in Dorothea, Flamboyan, and Neltjeberg ghuts, from 20 to +200 metres above sea level. Above 100 metres, it was always in high densities in pools between riffles, often with as many as 50 per square metre. The shrimp was always far more apparent and active at night, and its eyes reflected the light of our headlamps. This shrimp actively grazes on periphyton, leaf litter, and insect larvae ( March and Pringle 2003; Wright and Covich 2005; Crowl et al. 2006). During the day X. elongata could be seen moving about in full sunlight, grazing across the larger rocks and woody debris. Beatty (1968) and Chase and Hobbs (1969) report this species from St. Croix, with Nemeth et al. (2007) reporting it from St. Thomas and Pérez-Reyes et al. (2013) from Puerto Rico.