Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of

decapods The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is es ...

, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a

fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

extending back to the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, w ...

. They differ from related animals, such as

Caridea The Caridea, commonly known as caridean shrimp or true shrimp, are an infraorder of shrimp within the order Decapoda. This infraorder contains all species of true shrimp. They are found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Many ...

and

Stenopodidea The Stenopodidea or boxer shrimps are a small group of decapod crustaceans. Often confused with Caridea shrimp or Dendrobranchiata prawns, they are neither, belonging to their own group. Anatomy They can be differentiated from the Dendrobranc ...

, by the branching form of the

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they ar ...

s and by the fact that they do not brood their eggs, but release them directly into the water. They may reach a length of over and a mass of , and are widely fished and

farmed Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

for human consumption.

Shrimp and prawns

While Dendrobranchiata and

belong to different

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

s of

Decapoda The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is es ...

, they are very similar in appearance, and in many contexts such as commercial

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

and fisheries, they are both often referred to as "shrimp" and "prawn" interchangeably. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the word "prawn" is more common on menus than "shrimp", while the opposite is the case in North America. The term "prawn" is also loosely used to describe any large shrimp, especially those that come 15 (or fewer) to the pound (such as "king prawns", yet sometimes known as "jumbo shrimp"). Australia and some other

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with " republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from th ...

nations follow this British usage to an even greater extent, using the word "prawn" almost exclusively. When Australian comedian

Paul Hogan Paul Hogan (born 8 October 1939) is an Australian actor and comedian. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance as ...

used the phrase, "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you" in an American television advertisement, Baker & Bendel, 2007 it was intended to make what he was saying easier for his American audience to understand, and was thus a deliberate distortion of what an Australian would typically say.

Description

Together with other swimming Decapoda, Dendrobranchiata show the "caridoid facies", or shrimp-like form. Tavares & Martin, 2010, p. 100 The body is typically robust, and can be divided into a

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''ceph ...

(head and thorax fused together) and a

pleon The decapod (crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various g ...

(abdomen). The body is generally slightly flattened side-to-side. The largest species, ''

Penaeus monodon ''Penaeus monodon'', commonly known as the giant tiger prawn, Asian tiger shrimp, black tiger shrimp, and other names, is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food. Taxonomy ''Penaeus monodon'' was first described by Johan Christian ...

'', can reach a

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

of and a length of . Dall, 1990, pp. 3–4

Head

The most conspicuous appendages arising from the head are the antennae. The first pair are biramous (having two

flagella A flagellum (; ) is a hairlike appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are termed as flagellates. A microorganism may have f ...

), except in

Luciferidae Luciferidae is a family of prawns. These prawns are small, characterised by bioluminescence and the loss or reduction of some appendages. They are predators of tiny planktonic crustaceans for which their third pereiopod The decapod (crustacea ...

, and are relatively small. Tavares & Martin, 2010, p. 106 The second pair can be 2–3 times the length of the body and are always uniramous (having a single flagellum). The

mouthparts Mouthparts may refer to: * The parts of a mouth ** Arthropod mouthparts *** Insect mouthparts {{disambig ...

comprise pairs of

mandibles In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...

, maxillules and maxillae, arising from the head, and three pairs of maxillipeds, arising from the thorax. Tavares & Martin, 2010, pp. 106–108 A pair of stalked

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

s points forwards from the head. Tavares & Martin, 2010, p. 102

Thorax

The

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the und ...

grows from the thorax to cover the cephalothorax, and extends forwards between the eyes into a

rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...

. This is only as long as the stalked eyes in

Benthesicymidae Benthesicymidae is a family of shrimps in the suborder Dendrobranchiata Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. T ...

and

Sergestidae Sergestidae is a family of prawns which have lived since at least the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian/Bathonian). It contains the following genera: *''Acetes ''Acetes'' is a genus of small shrimp that resemble krill, which is native to the western ...

, but considerably longer in

Aristeidae Aristeidae is a family of Dendrobranchiata decapod crustaceans known as deep-sea shrimps, gamba prawns or gamba shrimps. Some species are subject to commercial fisheries. Genera The following genera are classified under the Aristeidae: *''Ar ...

. As well as the three pairs of maxillipeds, the thorax also bears five pairs of

pereiopod The decapod (crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various ...

s, or walking legs; the first three of these end in small

chelae A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-like organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through New Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds. ...

(pincers). Tavares & Martin, 2010, pp. 108–110 The last two pereiopods are absent in

and ''

Acetes ''Acetes'' is a genus of small shrimp that resemble krill, which is native to the western and central Indo-Pacific, the Atlantic coast of the Americas, Pacific coast of South America and inland waters of South America. Although most are from mar ...

'', but much longer than the preceding pereiopods in ''

Hymenopenaeus ''Hymenopenaeus'' is a genus of prawns containing 17 species. Species * ''Hymenopenaeus aphoticus'' Burkenroad, 1936 * ''Hymenopenaeus chacei'' Crosnier & Forest, 1969 * ''Hymenopenaeus debilis'' Smith, 1882 * ''Hymenopenaeus doris'' Faxon, 18 ...

'' and ''

Xiphopenaeus ''Xiphopenaeus'' is a genus of crustaceans in the suborder Dendrobranchiata, the shrimps and prawns. Two species are in this genus: *'' Xiphopenaeus kroyeri'' *''Xiphopenaeus riveti'' Likely, more species have not yet been described and named.G ...

''. Tavares & Martin, 2010, p. 110 The thoracic appendages carry

s, which are protected beneath the carapace. Tavares & Martin, 2010, pp. 103–105 The gills are typically branched, and so resemble trees, lending the group its scientific name, Dendrobranchiata, from the