African Fan Shrimp Atya gabonensis (Atya sculptata)

The African Fan Shrimp has a number of other common names including the Armoured, (Blue) Gabon or Cameroon Shrimp and the Giant Fan Shrimp. It is native to fast-flowing rivers of West Africa (Senegal to Congo).(Another freshwater shrimp species, Atya scabra, also native to West Africa, is prevalent in northeastern South America and is sometimes mistaken for this one.)

Large for a shrimp, they grow to some 15cm (5 inches) - more like a crayfish than a shrimp. Natural colour varies from light blue, dark blue, grey, brown, greenish, yellow and even red and can change on moult. They spread their large claws and use their feathery fanlike claspers to catch particles of food/plankton in the current.

Like many freshwater shrimp, the larvae need to be washed downstream into brackish water to develop and return to freshwater as adults.