#4483 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans
Atlantic ditch shrimp
🇳🇱 Steurkrab ·Palaemon varians
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Johan Kjær Prehn · CC BY 4.0
- 2. © Stefan · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Stefan · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Stefan · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Jon Mortin · CC BY 4.0
- 6. © Julien Renoult · CC BY 4.0
- 7. © Stefan · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Palaemon varians , known as the Common Ditch Shrimp , River Shrimp or Atlantic Ditch Shrimp , is a shrimp found from the Baltic Sea and the British Isles to the western Mediterranean Sea. 0 in) in length and is never found in fully marine conditions, instead living in brackish water.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 12 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #48 most seen of the crabs & other crustaceans in NL.
- 113 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
fact sheet
- English
- Atlantic ditch shrimp
- Nederlands
- Steurkrab
- scientific name
- Palaemon varians
- class
- Malacostraca
- order
- Decapoda
- family
- Palaemonidae
- sightings in NL
- 12
- sightings in Europe
- 66
- sightings worldwide
- 113
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
relatives· Palaemonidae
#4455 📷 10Rockpool Prawn
🇳🇱 Gewone steurgarnaal
Palaemon elegans
👀 89 in NL
#4463 📷 10Common Prawn
🇳🇱 Gezaagde steurgarnaal
Palaemon serratus
👀 47 in NL
#4468 📷 10Oriental Shrimp
🇳🇱 Rugstreepsteurgarnaal
Palaemon macrodactylus
👀 37 in NL
#4479 📷 8Baltic prawn
🇳🇱 Roodsprietgarnaal
Palaemon adspersus
👀 18 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 951853, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.