''Farfantepenaeus aztecus'' is a species of marine
penaeid shrimps found around the east coast of the US and Mexico.
They are an important commercial species in the US. The
FAO refers to them as the northern brown shrimp; other
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
s, used in the US, are ''brown shrimp'', ''golden shrimp'', ''red shrimp'' or ''redtail shrimp''.
[Brown shrimp](_blank)
''NOAA FishWatch''. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
Distribution
''Farfantepenaeus aztecus'' are found along the US Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Texas, and along the Atlantic coast of Mexico from Tamaulipas to Campeche.
They live at depths of , with highest densities at , on muddy, peat, sandy or clay bottoms, or amongst broken shells. Juveniles are found in marine or estuarine waters, while adults are marine.
This species has now been confirmed to occur in the Mediterranean, probably introduced in ship's ballast water, where it seems to be spreading and may threaten stocks of the native ''
Melicertus kerathurus
''Melicertus kerathurus'', the striped prawn or caramote prawn is a species of tiger prawn from the family Penaeidae which occurs in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea which is an important species in commercial fisheries. It is the type ...
''.
In the southern coast of Sicily (central Mediterranean Sea), the species appears well established.
Description
Females reach a total length of and males .
Fishery
In the United States, of ''F. aztecus'' were landed in 2010, more than half of which was from the state of
Texas.
Taxonomy
''Farfantepenaeus aztecus'' was
first described by J. E. Ives in an 1891 paper in the ''
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'', as a variety of "''Penæus brasiliensis''" (now ''
Farfantepenaeus brasiliensis
''Farfantepenaeus'' is a genus of prawns in the family Penaeidae. Its eight species were formerly included in the genus ''Penaeus''. It was first published as a genus name in 1972 by Rudolf N. Burukovsky, but without the necessary designation of ...
'').
The
type locality
Type locality may refer to:
* Type locality (biology)
* Type locality (geology)
See also
* Local (disambiguation)
* Locality (disambiguation)
{{disambiguation ...
was
Veracruz, on the Mexico's Gulf coast .
He distinguished the new variety on the basis of the extreme lengths of the antennal flagellum, which is 7–10× longer than the length of the carapace.
"''P. aztecus''" was later treated as a full species, and when he erected the subgenus ''
Farfantepenaeus
''Farfantepenaeus'' is a genus of prawns in the family Penaeidae. Its eight species were formerly included in the genus '' Penaeus''. It was first published as a genus name in 1972 by Rudolf N. Burukovsky, but without the necessary designation ...
'', Rudolf Burukovsky included "''P. aztecus''" among the species included in that subgenus.
''Farfantepenaeus'' was later raised to the rank of genus by
Isabel Pérez Farfante and
Brian Kensley, giving the species its current name of ''Farfantepenaeus aztecus''.
References
External links
*
{{Use dmy dates, date=February 2021
Penaeidae
Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean
Edible crustaceans
Commercial crustaceans
Crustaceans described in 1891