ABSTRACT
Th e association between non-burrowing gobiid fi shes and burrowing alpheid shrimps is a mutualistic, co-evolved partnership. Th e shrimp constructs and maintains a burrow which is used by the goby as a temporary shelter during the day, a permanent resting place over night and a safe place for breeding. Th e goby provides the shrimp with a tactile based alarm system, warning it against approaching predators or fi sh that dig in the sediment and may block its burrow entrance. A detailed review of the information available on goby-shrimp associations was published twenty years ago (Karplus, 1987). Th e aim of the present review is to focus mainly on new fi ndings that cover a wide range of topics including goby-shrimp taxonomy,
biogeography, ecology, behavior, partner specifi city, phylogeography and evolution. However, in order to expose the reader to the full picture of these fascinating associations, older studies will be briefl y reviewed at the beginning of each section. In some areas of research (e.g. goby and shrimp reproduction) few or no studies were carried out over the last twenty years. In these cases a more detailed overview based on older studies will be presented.
