The Common Shrimp is also known as the Brown Shrimp because it is mainly brown in colour with tiny darker brown spots. It can be found all around the English coast on sandy and muddy seabeds and occasionally in estuaries. It is quite difficult to detect because it likes to bury itself into the ground with only its eyes and antennae showing above the surface.

The Common Shrimp is usually about five centimetres long, but it can reach a length of up to nine centimetres. It has a flattened head and body.  The body is covered in a shell that extends to a point between the eyes. It also has long whip-like antennae at the front of its head and two black eyes that are on stalks. It has five pairs of walking legs of which the first pair has two large pincers to catch and cut prey. The abdomen of this shrimp tapers at the end and is flexible because it has no shell covering. The Common Shrimp also has a broad fan-like tail which it quickly contracts when it wants to swim backwards.

The female Common Shrimp carries her eggs on the underside of her abdomen until they are ready to hatch. The larvae hatch out of the eggs in early spring and summer and become part of zooplankton for around four weeks before they settle on the seabed to develop into adult Common Shrimps.