Shrimp are small invertebrate animals (animals lacking a backbone) that live on the floor of pools, oceans and lakes. You can often see then when you go looking in rock pools at low tide.

There are over 2,000 different species of shrimp worldwide, and range from a small fraction of an inch (1 or 2 mm) to 9 inches (23 cm) long.

These small crustaceans have a thin, smooth, hard, and almost transparent exoskeleton. Although tropical varieties are often brightly colored ( see coralshrimp).

Shrimp have 5 pairs of jointed walking legs on the thorax, and they have 5 pairs of swimming legs (swimmerets) and 3 pairs of maxillae (feeding appendages) on the abdomen. The body, legs, and other appendages are all segmented.

Shrimp have two pairs of segmented sensory antennae, a tail fan, and compound eyes.

Shrimp are omnivores, this means that they eat plants and small animals.

The female shrimp lay over a thousand eggs, which are attached to her swimming legs. These baby shrimp emerge as tiny, floating organisms, a component of zooplankton.

After growing, they sink to the bottom, where they will spend their lives. As a shrimp grows, it often molts like the crayfish (losing its old shell and growing a new one).

Shrimp are eaten by many animals, including many fish, birds, octopus, squid, cuttlefish, and people.