''Aristaeomorpha foliacea'', the giant red shrimp or giant gamba prawn, is a species of deep water

benthopelagic The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

decapod crustacean. It is found in all the world's oceans in the temperate and tropical zones. It is subject to some commercial fishing activity in the Mediterranean Sea.

Description

''Aristaeomorpha foliacea'' is a large decapod crustacean, a shrimp or prawn which has a firm and, flexible and light red

exoskeleton An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...

and black eyes. In mature females black colour of the black ovaries darkens the dorsal part of the abdomen. There is a slight keel along the dorsal midlines of the third segment which becomes more probounced on the next three segments, ending in a sharp posterior point. It has long pleopods, antennal, hepatic and branchiostegal spines on its carapace, a very short upper antennal flagella, strong spines to the rear of the midpoint on the third to sixth abdominal segments, a

telson The telson () is the posterior-most division of the body of an arthropod. Depending on the definition, the telson is either considered to be the final segment of the arthropod body, or an additional division that is not a true segment on accou ...

with four small mobile lateral spines, the females have an open telicum and the species shows secondary sexual dimorphism in body size and the length of the rostrum with the adult females being larger and having a longer rostrum, extending well beyond the antennal scale. In the males the rostrum is short and does not reach the tip of the antenna's peduncle. There are 6-12 upper teeth on the rostrum, including 2 on the carapace. The largest females have a total length of and the largest males grow to . The more common measurements for females are body length and for males .

Distribution

''Aristaeomorpha foliacea'' is found in the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic, the western Atlantic and the Indian Ocean into the Western Pacific from Japan to Australia and New Zealand as far east as Fiji. This distribution reflects the origin of ''A. foliacea'' in the

Tethys Ocean The Tethys Ocean ( el, Τηθύς ''Tēthús''), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean that covered most of the Earth during much of the Mesozoic Era and early Cenozoic Era, located between the ancient continents ...

during the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

, which covered an area approximately covering the present

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

to the Indian Ocean and included areas which are now in the Mediterranean. Its expansion into adjacent areas of the Pacific is a later increase in distribution. The distribution of this species in the Mediterranean is rather patchy and the largest concentrations are in the central and eastern basins.

Habitat and biology

The giant red shrimp is a deep-water benthopelagic species and has a reported depth distribution of 120–1300 m, generally on muddy bottoms, in the Mediterranean it shows a preference for quite deep waters, mainly 500-800m, but it is more likely than related species to be found in shallower waters. It is known to gather in large aggregations in submarine canyons and trenches along the

continental slope A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin ...

. Only a few individuals reproduce in their first year. The development of the

gonads A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a mixed gland that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism. Female reproductive cells are egg cells, and male reproductive cells are sperm. The male gonad, the testicle, produces sper ...

starts during the winter and the shrimps reach sexual maturity in their second summer. Sexually mature males have an extended reproductive capacity and are able to mate throughout the year, however the females mature seasonally. In the Strait of Sicily the females maturate and spawn from spring until autumn, with a peak in summer-autumn. This species gathers in shoals when mating and spawning. The eggs are released into the sea but the larval and juvenile stages are little known. This species is an opportunistic carnivore and scavenger with a high diversity in consumed prey types, the analysis of stomach content found both strictly benthic and pelagic prey . It is likely that this species undertakes diel migrations which are related to its feeding behaviour, during the day its prey consists of

benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s, bony fish, cephalopods siphonophores, gastropods, bivalves,

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made ...

s and

foraminiferans Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an ...

. In the Straits of Sicily the main crustacean prey are '' Plesionika'' and '' Pasiphaea'' spp., especially '' Pasiphaea sivado''. Also in the Straits of Sicily cephalopods are relatively more important in its diet when compared to giant red shrimp from other areas, making ''A. foliacea'' a significant contributor to the juvenile mortality of species such as '' Heteroteuthis dispar'' in the food webs of the central Mediterranean. Giant red shrimp also change their feeding behaviour seasonally, siphonophores of the family Diphyidae are important in the spring while benthic gastropods are an important food source in autumn. There appears to be a correlation between increased feeding in the Spring and increased reproductive activity. In the winter this species seems to eat more food but the food is of lower quality.

Fisheries

''Aristaeomorpha foliacea'' is an important target species for bottom otter trawlers operating on the continental slope in the Strait of Sicily where is pursued by boats from Tunisia, Malta and

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. it is also a quarry species off Venezuela and Madagascar. ''A. foliacea'' is marketed fresh or frozen.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3622652 Crustaceans described in 1827 Dendrobranchiata