![Palaemon serratus Croazia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Palaemon_serratus_Croazia.jpg)
Shrimp are
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 ...
s (a form of
shellfish
Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...
) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly
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
Dendrobranchiata
Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of Decapoda, decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea ...
of the
decapod order, although some
crustaceans outside of this order are referred to as "shrimp".
More narrow definitions may be restricted to Caridea, to smaller species of either group or to only the marine species. Under a broader definition, ''shrimp'' may be synonymous with
prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...
, covering stalk-eyed swimming
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 ...
s with long, narrow muscular tails (
abdomens
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...
), long whiskers (
antennae), and slender legs. Any small crustacean which resembles a shrimp tends to be called one. They swim forward by paddling with
swimmeret
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 on the underside of their abdomens, although their escape response is typically repeated flicks with the tail driving them backwards very quickly.
Crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s and
lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s have strong walking legs, whereas shrimp have thin, fragile legs which they use primarily for perching.
[Rudloe & Rudloe (2009), pp. 15–26.]
Shrimp are widespread and abundant. There are thousands of species adapted to a wide range of habitats. They can be found feeding near the seafloor on most coasts and estuaries, as well as in rivers and lakes. To escape predators, some species flip off the seafloor and dive into the sediment.
They usually live from one to seven years. Shrimp are often solitary, though they can form large
school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...
s during the spawning season.
They play important roles in the
food chain
A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...
and are an important food source for larger animals ranging from
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
to
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...
s. The muscular tails of many shrimp are edible to humans, and they are widely caught and farmed for human consumption. Commercial shrimp species support an industry worth 50 billion dollars a year,
and in 2010 the total commercial production of shrimp was nearly 7 million tonnes. Shrimp farming became more prevalent during the 1980s, particularly in China, and by 2007 the harvest from shrimp farms exceeded the capture of wild shrimp. There are significant issues with excessive
bycatch
Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
when shrimp are captured in the wild, and with pollution damage done to
estuaries
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
when they are used to support shrimp farming. Many shrimp species are small as the term ''shrimp'' suggests, about long, but some shrimp exceed . Larger shrimp are more likely to be targeted commercially and are often referred to as ''prawns'', particularly in the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
and former British colonies.
Classification
Shrimp are swimming
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 ...
s with long narrow muscular
abdomens
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...
and long
antennae. Unlike crabs and lobsters, shrimp have well developed
pleopod
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 (swimmerets) and slender walking legs; they are more adapted for swimming than walking. Historically, it was the distinction between walking and swimming that formed the primary taxonomic division into the former suborders
Natantia
Natantia (Boas, 1880) is an obsolete taxon of decapod crustaceans, comprising those families that move predominantly by swimming – the shrimp (comprising Caridea and Procarididea), prawns (Dendrobranchiata) and boxer shrimp. The remaining Decap ...
and
Reptantia
Reptantia is a clade of decapod crustaceans named in 1880 which includes lobsters, crabs and many other well-known crustaceans.
Classification
In older classifications, Reptantia was one of the two sub-orders of Decapoda alongside Natantia, wi ...
. Members of the Natantia (shrimp in the broader sense) were adapted for swimming while the Reptantia (crabs, lobsters, etc.) were adapted for crawling or walking.
[Bauer, 2004, Chapter 1, pp. 3–14.] Some other groups also have common names that include the word "shrimp";
[Bauer, 2004, Chapter 2, pp. 15–35.] any small swimming crustacean resembling a shrimp tends to be called one.
Description
![Caridoid escape reaction](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Caridoid_escape_reaction.gif)
The following description refers mainly to the external anatomy of the common European shrimp, ''
Crangon crangon
''Crangon crangon'' is a species of caridean shrimp found across the northeastern Atlantic Ocean from the White Sea in the north of Russia to the coast of Morocco, including the Baltic Sea, as well as occurring throughout the Mediterranean and Bl ...
'', as a typical example of a decapod shrimp. The body of the shrimp is divided into two main parts: the head and thorax which are fused together to form the
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 ''cepha ...
, and a long narrow
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...
. The shell which protects the cephalothorax is harder and thicker than the shell elsewhere on the shrimp and is called the
carapace
A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), 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 tor ...
. The carapace typically surrounds 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 are ...
s, through which water is pumped by the action of the mouthparts.
The rostrum, eyes, whiskers and legs also issue from the carapace. The
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 ...
, from the Latin ''rōstrum'' meaning ''beak'', looks like a beak or pointed nose at the front of the shrimp's head. It is a rigid forward extension of the carapace and can be used for attack or defense. It may also stabilize the shrimp when it swims backward. Two bulbous
eyes on stalks sit either side of the rostrum. These are
compound eyes
A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which distin ...
which have panoramic vision and are very good at detecting movement. Two pairs of whiskers (
antennae) also issue from the head. One of these pairs is very long and can be twice the length of the shrimp, while the other pair is quite short. The antennae have sensors on them which allow the shrimp to feel where they touch, and also allow them to "smell" or "taste" things by
sampling the chemicals in the water. The long antennae help the shrimp orient itself with regard to its immediate surroundings, while the short antennae help assess the suitability of prey.
[
Eight pairs of appendages issue from the cephalothorax. The first three pairs, the ]maxilliped
An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body.
In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...
s, Latin for "jaw feet", are used as mouthparts. In ''Crangon crangon'', the first pair, the maxillula, pumps water into 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 are ...
cavity. After the maxilliped come five more pairs of appendages, the 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 g ...
s. These form the ten decapod legs. In ''Crangon crangon'', the first two pairs of pereiopods have claws or chela
Chela may refer to:
* ''Chela'' (fish), a genus of small minnow-type fish in the Cyprinid family
* Chela (organ), a pincer-like organ terminating certain limbs of some arthropods such as crabs
* Chela (meteorite), a meteorite fall of 1988 in Tanz ...
. The chela can grasp food items and bring them to the mouth. They can also be used for fighting and grooming. The remaining four legs are long and slender, and are used for walking or perching.[Decapod]
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
The muscular abdomen has six segments and has a thinner shell than the carapace. Each segment has a separate overlapping shell, which can be transparent. The first five segments each have a pair of appendages on the underside, which are shaped like paddles and are used for swimming forward. The appendages are called pleopod
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 swimmerets, and can be used for purposes other than swimming. Some shrimp species use them for brooding eggs, others have gills on them for breathing, and the males in some species use the first pair or two for insemination. The sixth segment terminates in the 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 ...
flanked by two pairs of appendages called the uropod
Uropods are posterior appendages found on a wide variety of crustaceans. They typically have functions in locomotion.
Definition
Uropods are often defined as the appendages of the last body segment of a crustacean. An alternative definition sugge ...
s. The uropods allow the shrimp to swim backward, and function like rudders, steering the shrimp when it swims forward. Together, the telson and uropods form a splayed tail fan. If a shrimp is alarmed, it can flex its tail fan in a rapid movement. This results in a backward dart called the caridoid escape reaction
The caridoid escape reaction, also known as lobstering or tail-flipping, refers to an innate escape mechanism in marine and freshwater crustaceans such as lobsters, krill, shrimp and crayfish.
The reaction, most extensively researched in crayfis ...
(lobstering).
Habitat
Shrimp are widespread, and can be found near the seafloor of most coasts and estuaries, as well as in rivers and lakes. There are numerous species, and usually there is a species adapted to any particular habitat. Most shrimp species are marine, although about a quarter of the described species are found in fresh water
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
. Marine species are found at depths of up to , and from the tropics to the polar regions. Although shrimp are almost entirely fully aquatic, the two species of '' Merguia'' are semi-terrestrial
In biology, semiaquatic can refer to various types of animals that spend part of their time in water, or plants that naturally grow partially submerged in water. Examples are given below.
Semiaquatic animals
Semiaquatic animals include:
* Verte ...
and spend a significant part of their life on land in mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...
.
Behaviour
There are many variations in the ways different types of shrimp look and behave. Even within the core group of caridean shrimp
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 ...
, the small delicate Pederson's shrimp (above) looks and behaves quite unlike the large commercial pink shrimp or the snapping pistol shrimp
Alpheidae is a family of caridean snapping shrimp, characterized by having asymmetrical claws, the larger of which is typically capable of producing a loud snapping sound. Other common names for animals in the group are pistol shrimp or alpheid s ...
. The caridean family of pistol shrimp
Alpheidae is a family of caridean snapping shrimp, characterized by having asymmetrical claws, the larger of which is typically capable of producing a loud snapping sound. Other common names for animals in the group are pistol shrimp or alpheid s ...
are characterized by big asymmetrical claws, the larger of which can produce a loud snapping sound. The family is diverse and worldwide in distribution, consisting of about 600 species. Colonies of snapping shrimp are a major source of noise in the ocean and can interfere with sonar and underwater communication. The small emperor shrimp has a symbiotic
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
relationship with sea slug
Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...
s and sea cucumber
Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuria ...
s, and may help keep them clear of ectoparasites.
Most shrimp are omnivorous
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...
, but some are specialised for particular modes of feeding. Some are filter feeders
Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...
, using their setose (bristly) legs as a sieve; some scrape algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
from rocks. Cleaner shrimp
Cleaner shrimp is a common name for a number of swimming decapod crustaceans, that clean other organisms of parasites. They belong to any of three families, Hippolytidae (including the Pacific cleaner shrimp, ''Lysmata amboinensis''), Palaem ...
feed on the parasites and necrotic tissue
Necrosis () is a form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, or trauma which result in the unregulated diges ...
of the reef fish they groom. Some species of shrimp are known to cannibalize others as well if other food sources are not readily available. In turn, shrimp are eaten by various animals, particularly fish and seabirds, and frequently host bopyrid parasites.
Mating
Females of the freshwater shrimp ''Caridina ensifera'' are capable of storing sperm from multiple partners, and thus can produce progeny with different paternities. Reproductive success of sires was found to correlate inversely with their genetic relatedness to the mother. This finding suggests that sperm competition and/or pre- and post-copulatory female choice occurs. Female choice may increase the fitness of progeny by reducing inbreeding depression
Inbreeding depression is the reduced biological fitness which has the potential to result from inbreeding (the breeding of related individuals). Biological fitness refers to an organism's ability to survive and perpetuate its genetic material. In ...
that ordinarily results from the expression of homozygous
Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism.
Mo ...
deleterious recessive mutations.
Species
Decapods
There is little agreement among taxonomists concerning the phylogeny
A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...
of crustaceans.[Decapoda: Reptantia]
''Palaeos Palaeos.com is a web site on biology, paleontology, phylogeny and geology and which covers the history of Earth. The site is well respected and has been used as a reference by professional paleontologists such as Michael J. Benton, the professor of ...
''. Retrieved 7 September 2012. Within the decapods "every study gives totally different results. Nor do even one of these studies match any of the rival morphology studies".[Decapoda: Caridea]
''Palaeos Palaeos.com is a web site on biology, paleontology, phylogeny and geology and which covers the history of Earth. The site is well respected and has been used as a reference by professional paleontologists such as Michael J. Benton, the professor of ...
''. Retrieved 20 August 2012. Some taxonomists identify shrimp with the infraorder 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 prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...
s with the suborder Dendrobranchiata
Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of Decapoda, decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea ...
. While different experts give different answers, there is no disagreement that the caridean species are shrimp. There are over 3000 caridean species. Occasionally they are referred to as "true shrimp".
Traditionally 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 estim ...
were divided into two suborders: the Natantia
Natantia (Boas, 1880) is an obsolete taxon of decapod crustaceans, comprising those families that move predominantly by swimming – the shrimp (comprising Caridea and Procarididea), prawns (Dendrobranchiata) and boxer shrimp. The remaining Decap ...
(or swimmers), and the Reptantia
Reptantia is a clade of decapod crustaceans named in 1880 which includes lobsters, crabs and many other well-known crustaceans.
Classification
In older classifications, Reptantia was one of the two sub-orders of Decapoda alongside Natantia, wi ...
(or walkers). The Natantia or swimmers included the shrimp. They were defined by their abdomen which, together with its appendages was well adapted for swimming. The Reptantia or walkers included the crabs and lobsters. These species have small abdominal appendages, but robust legs well adapted for walking. The Natantia was thought to be paraphyletic
In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...
, that is, it was thought that originally all decapods were like shrimp.[Decapoda]
''Palaeos Palaeos.com is a web site on biology, paleontology, phylogeny and geology and which covers the history of Earth. The site is well respected and has been used as a reference by professional paleontologists such as Michael J. Benton, the professor of ...
''. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
However, classifications are now based on clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
s, and the paraphyletic suborder Natantia has been discontinued. "On this basis, taxonomic classifications now divide the order Decapoda into the two suborders: Dendrobranchiata for the largest shrimp clade, and Pleocyemata for all other decapods. The Pleocyemata are in turn divided into half a dozen infra-orders"
* The taxonomists De Grave and Fransen, 2011, recognise four major groups of shrimp: the suborder Dendrobranchiata
Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of Decapoda, decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea ...
and the infraorders Procarididea
Procarididea is an infraorder of decapods, comprising only eleven species. Six of these are in the genera ''Procaris'' and '' Vetericaris'', which together make up the family Procarididae. The remaining five species are only known from fossils an ...
, 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 ...
and 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 ...
". This group is identical to the traditional Natantia
Natantia (Boas, 1880) is an obsolete taxon of decapod crustaceans, comprising those families that move predominantly by swimming – the shrimp (comprising Caridea and Procarididea), prawns (Dendrobranchiata) and boxer shrimp. The remaining Decap ...
group, and contains decapods only.
* All shrimp of commercial interest belong to the Natantia. The FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
determine the categories and terminology used in the reporting of global fisheries. They define a shrimp as a "decapod crustacean of the suborder Natantia".
* According to the Codex Alimentarius Commission of the FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
and WHO
Who or WHO may refer to:
* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism
* World Health Organization
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
: "The term ''shrimp'' (which includes the frequently used term ''prawn'') refers to the species covered by the most recent edition of the FAO listing of shrimp, FAO Species Catalogue, Volume 1
''Shrimps and prawns of the world, an annotated catalogue of species of interest to fisheries''
FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125." In turn, the ''Species Catalogue'' says the highest category it deals with is "the suborder Natantia of the order Crustacea Decapoda to which all shrimps and prawns belong".
Other decapod crustaceans also called shrimp, are the ghost or mud shrimp belonging to the infra-order Thalassinidea
Thalassinidea is a former infraorder of decapod crustaceans that live in burrows in muddy bottoms of the world's oceans. In Australian English, the littoral thalassinidean ''Trypaea australiensis'' is referred to as the ''yabby'' (a term which al ...
. In Australia they are called ''yabbies''. The monophyly
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic grou ...
of the group is not certain; recent studies have suggested dividing the group into two infraorders, Gebiidea and Axiidea.
Non-decapods
A wide variety of non-decapod crustaceans are also commonly referred to as shrimp. This includes the brine shrimp
''Artemia'' is a genus of aquatic crustaceans also known as brine shrimp. It is the only genus in the family Artemiidae. The first historical record of the existence of ''Artemia'' dates back to the first half of the 10th century AD from Urmia La ...
, clam shrimp
Clam shrimp are a group of bivalved branchiopod crustaceans that resemble the unrelated bivalved molluscs. They are extant and also known from the fossil record, from at least the Devonian period and perhaps before. They were originally classifi ...
, fairy shrimp
Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered mou ...
and tadpole shrimp
The order Notostraca, containing the single family Triopsidae, is a group of crustaceans known as tadpole shrimp or shield shrimp. The two genera, '' Triops'' and ''Lepidurus'', are considered living fossils, with similar forms having existed sinc ...
belonging to the branchiopods
Branchiopoda is a class (biology), class of crustaceans. It comprises Anostraca, fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, Diplostraca (or Cladocera), Notostraca and the Devonian ''Lepidocaris''. They are mostly small, freshwater animals that feed on plankton ...
, the lophogastridan shrimp, opossum shrimp
Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in ...
and skeleton shrimp
Caprellidae is a family of amphipods commonly known as skeleton shrimps. Their common name denotes the threadlike slender body which allows them to virtually disappear among the fine filaments of seaweed, hydroids and bryozoans. They are sometim ...
belonging the Malacostraca
Malacostraca (from New Latin; ) is the largest of the six classes of crustaceans, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members, the malacostracans, display a great diversity of body forms and include crabs, lobst ...
; and seed shrimp
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typical ...
which are ostracod
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...
s. Many of these species look quite unlike the commercial decapod shrimp that are eaten as seafood. For example, skeleton shrimp
Caprellidae is a family of amphipods commonly known as skeleton shrimps. Their common name denotes the threadlike slender body which allows them to virtually disappear among the fine filaments of seaweed, hydroids and bryozoans. They are sometim ...
have short legs and a slender tail like a scorpion tail, fairy shrimp
Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered mou ...
swim upside down with swimming appendages that look like leaves, and the tiny seed shrimp
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typical ...
have bivalved carapaces which they can open or close. Krill
Krill are small crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, and are found in all the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in n ...
resemble miniature shrimp, and are sometimes called "krill shrimp".
Some mantis shrimp
Mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 340 million years ago. Mantis shrimp typically grow to around in lengt ...
are a foot long, and have bulging eyes, a flattened tail and formidable claws equipped with clubs or sharp spikes, which it can use to knock out its opponents.
Human uses
History
In 1991, archeologists suggested that ancient raised paved areas near the coast in Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
, Mexico, were platforms used for drying shrimp in the sun, and that adjacent clay hearths were used to dry the shrimp when there was no sun. The evidence was circumstantial, because the chitin
Chitin ( C8 H13 O5 N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is probably the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cellulose); an estimated 1 billion tons of chit ...
ous shells of shrimp are so thin they degrade rapidly, leaving no fossil remains. In 1985 Quitmyer and others found direct evidence dating back to 600 AD for shrimping off the southeastern coast of North America, by successfully identifying shrimp from the archaeological remains of their mandible
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 tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...
s (jaws). Clay vessels with shrimp decorations have been found in the ruins of Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
. In the 3rd century AD, the Greek author Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...
wrote in his literary work, ''Deipnosophistae
The ''Deipnosophistae'' is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work ( grc, Δειπνοσοφισταί, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. "The Dinner Sophists/Philosophers/Experts") by the Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of liter ...
''; "... of all fish the daintiest is a young shrimp in fig leaves."
In North America, indigenous peoples of the Americas
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
captured shrimp and other crustaceans in fishing weir
A fishing weir, fish weir, fishgarth or kiddle is an obstruction placed in tidal waters, or wholly or partially across a river, to direct the passage of, or trap fish. A weir may be used to trap marine fish in the intertidal zone as the tide reced ...
s and traps made from branches and Spanish moss
Spanish moss (''Tillandsia usneoides'') is an epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon large trees in tropical and subtropical climates. It is native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the Southern Uni ...
, or used nets woven with fibre beaten from plants. At the same time early European settlers, oblivious to the "protein-rich coasts" all about them, starved from lack of protein. In 1735 beach seines were imported from France, and Cajun
The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana.
While Cajuns are usually described as ...
fishermen in Louisiana started catching white shrimp and drying them in the sun, as they still do today. In the mid nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants arrived for the California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
, many from the Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Mac ...
where netting small shrimp had been a tradition for centuries. Some immigrants starting catching shrimp local to San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
, particularly the small inch long ''Crangon franciscorum
''Crangon franciscorum'' is a species of shrimp in the family Crangonidae which is endemic to the brackish estuaries of California, and found from Puget Sound in the north to San Diego, California in the south. The species is especially abundant ...
''. These shrimp burrow into the sand to hide, and can be present in high numbers without appearing to be so. The catch was dried in the sun and was exported to China or sold to the Chinese community in the United States. This was the beginning of the American shrimping industry. Overfishing
Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...
and pollution from gold mine tailings resulted in the decline of the fishery. It was replaced by a penaeid white shrimp fishery on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. These shrimp were so abundant that beaches were piled with windrow
A windrow is a row of cut (mown) hay or small grain crop. It is allowed to dry before being baled, combined, or rolled. For hay, the windrow is often formed by a hay rake, which rakes hay that has been cut by a mowing machine or by scythe into a ...
s from their moult
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...
s. Modern industrial shrimping methods originated in this area.[Rudloe and Rudloe, 2009, pp.27–47.]
""For shrimp to develop into one of the world's most popular foods, it took the simultaneous development of the otter trawl
Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towin ...
... and the internal combustion engine." Shrimp trawling
Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different speci ...
can capture shrimp in huge volumes by dragging a net along the seafloor. Trawling was first recorded in England in 1376, when King Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...
received a request that he ban this new and destructive way of fishing. In 1583, the Dutch banned shrimp trawling in estuaries.
In the 1920s, diesel engines were adapted for use in shrimp boats. Power winches were connected to the engines, and only small crews were needed to rapidly lift heavy nets on board and empty them. Shrimp boats became larger, faster, and more capable. New fishing grounds could be explored, trawls could be deployed in deeper offshore waters, and shrimp could be tracked and caught round the year, instead of seasonally as in earlier times. Larger boats trawled offshore and smaller boats worked bays and estuaries. By the 1960s, steel and fibreglass hulls further strengthened shrimp boats, so they could trawl heavier nets, and steady advances in electronics, radar, sonar, and GPS resulted in more sophisticated and capable shrimp fleets.
As shrimp fishing methods industrialised, parallel changes were happening in the way shrimp were processed. "In the 19th century, sun dried shrimp were largely replaced by canneries
Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although un ...
. In the 20th century, the canneries were replaced with freezers."
In the 1970s, significant shrimp farming
Shrimp farming is an aquaculture business that exists in either a marine or freshwater environment, producing shrimp or prawns (crustaceans of the groups Caridea or Dendrobranchiata) for human consumption.
Marine
Commercial marine shrimp farming ...
was initiated, particularly in China. The farming accelerated during the 1980s as the quantity of shrimp demand exceeded the quantity supplied, and as excessive bycatch
Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
and threats to endangered sea turtles
Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles a year are accidentally caught in shrimp trawl nets, on longline hooks and in fishing gill-nets. Sea turtles need to reach the surface to breathe, and therefore many drown once caught. Loggerhead an ...
became associated with trawling for wild shrimp. In 2007, the production of farmed shrimp exceeded the capture of wild shrimp.[
]
Commercial species
Although there are thousands of species of shrimp worldwide, only about 20 of these species are commercially significant. The following table contains the principal commercial shrimp, the seven most harvested species. All of them are decapods; most of them belong to the Dendrobranchiata
Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of Decapoda, decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea ...
and four of them are penaeid shrimp
Penaeidae is a family of marine crustaceans in the suborder Dendrobranchiata, which are often referred to as penaeid shrimp or penaeid prawns. The Penaeidae contain many species of economic importance, such as the tiger prawn, whiteleg shrimp, ...
.
Fishing
Commercial techniques for catching wild shrimp include otter trawls, seines and shrimp baiting
Shrimp baiting is a method used by recreational fisherman for of catching shrimp. In the 1980s the sport became popular in the southeastern coastal states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Since then, several local state re ...
. A system of nets is used when trawling
Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different speci ...
. Baited traps are common in parts of the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
.
Shrimp trawling can result in very high incidental catch
In fishing, incidental catch is that part of the catch which was not originally targeted, but was caught and retained anyway. It can be contrasted with discards, which is that part of the catch which was not originally targeted, but was caught and ...
rates of non-target species. In 1997, the FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
found discard rates up to 20 pounds for every pound of shrimp. The world average was 5.7 pounds for every pound of shrimp. Trawl nets in general, and shrimp trawls in particular, have been identified as sources of mortality for species of finfish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of liv ...
and cetaceans
Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...
. Bycatch is often discarded dead or dying by the time it is returned to the sea, and may alter the ecological balance in discarded regions. Worldwide, shrimp trawl fisheries generate about 2% of the world's catch of fish in weight, but result in more than one third of the global bycatch total.
The most extensively fished species are the akiami paste shrimp, the northern prawn, the southern rough shrimp, and the giant tiger prawn
''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 ...
. Together these four species account for nearly half of the total wild capture. In recent years, the global capture of wild shrimp has been overtaken by the harvest from farmed shrimp.[
]
Farming
A shrimp farm is an aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
business for the cultivation of marine shrimp or prawns for human consumption. Commercial shrimp farming began in the 1970s, and production grew steeply, particularly to match the market demands of the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
. The total global production of farmed shrimp reached more than 1.6 million tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s in 2003, representing a value of nearly 9 billion U.S. dollars
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
. About 75% of farmed shrimp are produced in Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
, in particular in China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. The other 25% are produced mainly in Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, where Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
is the largest producer. By 2016, the largest exporting nation is India, followed by Ecuador, Thailand, Indonesia and China.
As can be seen from the global production chart on the left, significant aquaculture production started slowly in the 1970s and then rapidly expanded during the 1980s. After a lull in growth during the 1990s, due to pathogens, production took off again and by 2007 exceeded the capture from wild fisheries. By 2010, the aquaculture harvest was 3.9 million tonnes, compared to 3.1 million tonnes for the capture of wild shrimp.[
In the earlier years of marine shrimp farming the preferred species was the large ]giant tiger prawn
''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 ...
. This species is reared in circular holding tanks where they think they are in the open ocean, and swim in "never ending migration" around the circumference of the tank. In 2000, global production was 630,984 tonnes, compared to only 146,362 tonnes for whiteleg shrimp
Whiteleg shrimp (''Litopenaeus vannamei'', synonym ''Penaeus vannamei''), also known as Pacific white shrimp or King prawn, is a species of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food.
Description
''L. vannamei'' grows ...
. Subsequently, these positions reversed, and by 2010 the production of giant tiger prawn increased modestly to 781,581 tonnes while whiteleg shrimp rocketed nearly twenty-fold to 2,720,929 tonnes.[ The ]whiteleg shrimp
Whiteleg shrimp (''Litopenaeus vannamei'', synonym ''Penaeus vannamei''), also known as Pacific white shrimp or King prawn, is a species of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food.
Description
''L. vannamei'' grows ...
is currently the dominant species in shrimp farming. It is a moderately large shrimp reaching a total length of 230 mm (9"), and is particularly suited to farming because it "breeds well in captivity, can be stocked at small sizes, grows fast and at uniform rates, has comparatively low protein requirements... and adapts well to variable environmental conditions." In China, prawns are cultured along with sea cucumbers
Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuria ...
and some fish species, in integrated multi-trophic systems.
The major producer of farmed shrimp is China. Other significant producers are Thailand, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Ecuador and Bangladesh. Most farmed shrimp is exported to the United States, the European Union and Japan, also other Asian markets, including South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
Investigations by ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in 2014 and ''The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'' in 2015 found human rights abuse
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
s on fishing boats operated by Thailand. The boats are manned with slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, and catch shrimp and fish (including fish for the production of fishmeal
Fish meal is a commercial product made from whole wild-caught fish, bycatch and fish by-products to feed farm animals, e.g., pigs, poultry, and farmed fish.R. D. Miles and F. A. Chapman.FA122: The Benefits of Fish Meal in Aquaculture DietsFisherie ...
which is fed to farmed prawns). Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
has challenged the sustainability of tropical shrimp farming practices on the grounds that farming these species "has led to the destruction of vast areas of mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...
s in several countries ndover-fishing of juvenile shrimp from the wild to supply farms." Greenpeace has placed a number of the prominent tropical shrimp species that are farmed commercially on its seafood red list, including the whiteleg shrimp
Whiteleg shrimp (''Litopenaeus vannamei'', synonym ''Penaeus vannamei''), also known as Pacific white shrimp or King prawn, is a species of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food.
Description
''L. vannamei'' grows ...
, Indian prawn
The Indian prawn (''Fenneropenaeus indicus'', formerly ''Penaeus indicus''), is one of the major commercial prawn species of the world. It is found in the Indo-West Pacific from eastern and south-eastern Africa, through India, Malaysia and Indone ...
and giant tiger shrimp
''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 ...
.[Seafood Red list]
''Greenpeace''. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
As food
Shrimp are marketed
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
and commercialized with several issues in mind. Most shrimp are sold frozen and marketed based on their categorization of presentation, grading, colour, and uniformity. Shrimp have high levels of omega-3 fatty acid
Omega−3 fatty acids, also called Omega-3 oils, ω−3 fatty acids or ''n''−3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) characterized by the presence of a double bond, three atoms away from the terminal methyl group in their chem ...
s and low levels of mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
. Usually shrimp is sold whole, though sometimes only the meat of shrimp is marketed.
As with other seafood, shrimp is high in calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...
, iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
and protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
but low in food energy
Food energy is chemical energy that animals (including humans) derive from their food to sustain their metabolism, including their muscle, muscular activity.
Most animals derive most of their energy from aerobic respiration, namely combining the ...
. A shrimp-based meal is also a significant source of cholesterol
Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...
, from 122 mg to 251 mg per 100 g of shrimp, depending on the method of preparation. Shrimp consumption, however, is considered healthy for the circulatory system because the lack of significant levels of saturated fat in shrimp means that the high cholesterol content in shrimp actually improves the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and lowers triglycerides
A triglyceride (TG, triacylglycerol, TAG, or triacylglyceride) is an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids (from ''tri-'' and ''glyceride'').
Triglycerides are the main constituents of body fat in humans and other vertebrates, as we ...
.
''Ebiko'' - shrimp roe
Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...
, sometimes translated as "shrimp flakes" - is used as one of the ingredients in the preparation of sushi
is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is " ...
.
Shrimp and other shellfish
Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...
are among the most common food allergens. They are not kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
and thus are forbidden in Jewish cuisine
Jewish cuisine refers to the worldwide cooking traditions of the Jewish people. During its evolution over the course of many centuries, it has been shaped by Jewish dietary laws (''kashrut''), Jewish festivals and holidays, and traditions cen ...
.
Aquaria
Several types of shrimp are kept in home aquaria. Some are purely ornamental, while others are useful in controlling algae and removing debris. Freshwater shrimp commonly available for aquaria include the Bamboo shrimp, Japanese marsh shrimp (''Caridina multidentata,'' also called "Amano shrimp," as their use in aquaria was pioneered by Takashi Amano
was a professional track cyclist, photographer, designer, and aquarist. His interest in aquaria led him to create the Japanese company Aqua Design Amano.
Amano was the author of ''Nature Aquarium World'' ( TFH Publications, 1994), a three- ...
), cherry shrimp
''Neocaridina davidi'' is a freshwater shrimp originating from eastern China and northern Taiwan and introduced in the rest of Taiwan, Japan, and Hawaii, which is commonly kept in aquaria. The natural coloration of the shrimp is green-brow ...
(''Neocaridina heteropoda''), and ghost or glass shrimp (''Palaemonetes
''Palaemonetes'', its common names include glass shrimp, ghost shrimp, feeder shrimp, is a genus of caridean shrimp comprising a geographically diverse group of fresh water, brackish and marine crustaceans. Conventionally, ''Palaemonetes'' i ...
'' spp.). Popular saltwater shrimp include the cleaner shrimp ''Lysmata amboinensis
''Lysmata amboinensis'' is an omnivorous shrimp species known by several common names including the Pacific cleaner shrimp. It is considered a cleaner shrimp as eating parasites and dead tissue from fish makes up a large part of its diet. The spe ...
'', the fire shrimp (''Lysmata debelius
''Lysmata debelius'' is a species of cleaner shrimp indigenous to the Indo-Pacific. It is popular in the aquarium trade, where it is known as the fire shrimp, blood shrimp or scarlet cleaner shrimp.
Taxonomy
''Lysmata debelius'' was first desc ...
'') and the harlequin shrimp (''Hymenocera picta
''Hymenocera picta'', commonly known as the harlequin shrimp, is a species of saltwater shrimp found at coral reefs in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is usually considered the only species in the genus ''Hymenocera'', but some split ...
'').
Shrimp versus prawn
The terms ''shrimp'' and ''prawn'' are 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, not scientific name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
s. They are vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
or colloquial
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conver ...
terms which lack the formal definition of scientific terms
Scientific terminology is the part of the language that is used by scientists in the context of their professional activities. While studying nature, scientists often encounter or create new material or immaterial objects and concepts and are comp ...
. They are not taxa
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
, but are terms of convenience with little circumscriptional significance. There is no reason to avoid using the terms shrimp or prawn when convenient, but it is important not to confuse them with the names or relationships of actual taxa.
According to the crustacean taxonomist Tin-Yam Chan, "The terms ''shrimp'' and ''prawn'' have no definite reference to any known taxonomic groups. Although the term ''shrimp'' is sometimes applied to smaller species, while ''prawn'' is more often used for larger forms, there is no clear distinction between both terms and their usage is often confused or even reverse in different countries or regions." Writing in 1980, L. B. Holthuis noted that the terms ''prawn'' and ''shrimp'' were used inconsistently "even within a single region", generalising that larger species fished commercially were generally called ''shrimp'' in the United States, and ''prawns'' in other English-speaking countries, although not without exceptions.[Holthuis, L. B. (1980) tp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/ac477e/ac477e02.pdf ''Shrimps and prawns of the world''Volume I of the FAO species catalogue, Fisheries Synopsis No.125, Rome. .]
A lot of confusion surrounds the scope of the term ''shrimp''. Part of the confusion originates with the association of smallness. That creates problems with shrimp-like species that are not small. The expression "jumbo shrimp" can be viewed as an oxymoron, a problem that does not exist with the commercial designation "jumbo prawns".
The term ''shrimp'' originated around the 14th century with the Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
', akin to the Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
', and meaning to contract or wrinkle; and the Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
', meaning to shrivel up, or ''skreppa'', meaning a thin person. It is not clear where the term ''prawn'' originated, but early forms of the word surfaced in England in the early 15th century as ''prayne, praine'' and ''prane''. According to the linguist Anatoly Liberman
Anatoly Liberman (russian: Анато́лий Си́монович Либерма́н; born 10 March 1937) is a linguist, medievalist, etymologist, poet, translator of poetry (mainly from and into Russian), and literary critic.
Liberman is a pro ...
it is unclear how ''shrimp'', in English, came to be associated with ''small''. "No Germanic language associates the shrimp with its size... The same holds for Romance... it remains unclear in what circumstances the name was applied to the crustacean."[ Liberman, Anatoly (2012]
A scrumptious shrimp with a riddle
''Oxford University Press's Blog'', 18 April 2012.
Taxonomic studies in Europe on shrimp and prawns were shaped by the common shrimp
''Crangon crangon'' is a species of caridean shrimp found across the northeastern Atlantic Ocean from the White Sea in the north of Russia to the coast of Morocco, including the Baltic Sea, as well as occurring throughout the Mediterranean and Bl ...
and the common prawn
Common may refer to:
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Clapham Common, originally com ...
, both found in huge numbers along the European coastlines. The common shrimp, ''Crangon crangon'', was categorised in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
, and the common prawn, ''Palaemon serratus'', was categorised in 1777 by Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...
. The common shrimp is a small burrowing species aligned with the notion of a shrimp as being something small, whereas the common prawn is much larger. The terms ''true shrimp'' or ''true prawn'' are sometimes used to mean what a particular person thinks is a shrimp or prawn. This varies with the person using the terms. But such terms are not normally used in the scientific literature, because the terms ''shrimp'' and ''prawn'' themselves lack scientific standing. Over the years the way ''shrimp'' and ''prawn'' are used has changed, and nowadays the terms are almost interchangeable. Although from time to time some biologists declare that certain common names should be confined to specific taxa, the popular use of these names seems to continue unchanged.
Fossils
Only 57 exclusively fossil species are known in the shrimp 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 in ...
. The earliest dates from the Lower Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma&nb ...
, followed by specimens from the Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
.
See also
* Pain in crustaceans
Pain in crustaceans is a scientific debate which questions whether they experience pain or not. Pain is a complex mental state, with a distinct perceptual quality but also associated with suffering, which is an emotional state. Because of this ...
References
Further reading
* Bauer, Raymond T (2004
"Remarkable Shrimps: Adaptations and Natural History of the Carideans"
University of Oklahoma Press. .
*
* Fransen CHJM and De Grave S (2009
"Evolution and radiation of shrimp-like decapods: an overview"
In: Martin J.W., Crandall K.A., Felder D.L. (eds.), ''Decapod Crustacean Phylogenetics''. CRC Press, pp. 246–259.
* Kaplan, Eugene H (2010
''Sensuous Seas: Tales of a Marine Biologist''
Princeton University Press. .
* Meyer R, Lochner S and Melzer RR (2009
Decapoda – Crabs, Shrimps & Lobsters
pp. 623–670 In: Häussermann V and Förstera G (eds) ''Marine Benthic Fauna of Chilean Patagonia: Illustrated Identification Guide", Nature in Focus. .
* Poore, Gary (2004
''Marine Decapod Crustacea of Southern Australia: A Guide to Identification"
Csiro Publishing. .
* Fearnley-Whittingstall, H and Fisher N (2007
''The River Cottage Fish Book''
Page 541–543, Bloomsbury Publishing. .
* Roberts, Callum (2009
''The unnatural history of the sea''
Island Press. .
* Rudloe, Jack and Rudloe, Anne (2009
''Shrimp: The Endless Quest for Pink Gold''
FT Press. .
* Ruppert EE, Fox RS and Barnes RD (2004
''Invertebrate zoology: A functional evolutionary approach''
7th edition, Thomson-Brooks/Cole. .
*
External links
* tp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/005/y1679e/y1679e04.pdf "Internal and External Anatomy of a Penaeid Shrimp"Fisheries Technical Paper 395, FAO, Rome.
Shrimp versus prawn
shrimp,lobster,crab
ngrams
*
Shrimp versus prawns
– ''YouTube''
*
{{Authority control
Commercial crustaceans
Decapods
Edible crustaceans
Seafood
Arthropod common names