Nematocarcinus

Nematocarcinus, sometimes known as spider shrimp, is a genus of caridean shrimp, the nominotype of Nematocarcinidae. Similar to the other members of their family, Nematocarcinus inhabit the deep sea, walking on the seabed with their specialized, extremely elongate legs (the pereiopods). Despite continuing fisheries experiments, they are currently not commercially fished, but often appear as bycatch.

==Description== Nematocarcinus has a number of diagnostic characters, such as the shape and teeth of the rostrum, the shape of the third abdominal tergite, the shape of the fifth abdominal pleura along with short protuberances or a ridge on the inner surface of its anterior margin, the accessory teeth of the telson, and the ventral margin of the sixth abdominal somite (the distoventral organ) along with its associated setae. Another notable trait is their "mud shoes"; the long and slender pereopods possess tufts of long setae at the dactyls, which presumably helps distribute their weight over the pelagic sediment. In general, the bodies of these shrimp are rather delicate, and specimens are often damaged when collected by traditional methods such as trawling.