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With thousands of shrimp species, many with different life cycles, this question can be answered in general terms divided into the larval and developed (adult) stages. Shrimp are opportunistic omnivores and shrimp eat both plants and animals (dead and alive) which are nearest and easiest to grab and ingest. The answer to “What to Shrimp Eat?” can be answered in three parts:
What do shrimp eat during the Larvae Stage?Wild ShrimpLarvae shrimp consume whatever they drift with, namely plankton, having no control over their movement. Plankton are microscopic plants and animals which drift on the ocean currents but not at extreme depths, and may consist of algae, bacteria, and single cell plants or animals. Farmed ShrimpFarmers usually promote algae growth in ponds with fertilizers. Sometimes water loving plants such as rice are planted to offer detritus and to promote the growth of small animals and plants which provide food that shrimp eat. Aquarium ShrimpHealthy tanks have normal reasonable amounts of algae growth on tank walls, plant and inanimate object surfaces, providing sufficient food for the shrimp. What do shrimp eat during the Developed Stage?Wild ShrimpIn the adult stage, many species of shrimp migrate to shallow and brackish waters foraging on the bottom. They consume plant detritus, worms, decaying animal parts such as clams, fish and snails. Many shrimp species are cannibalistic. Farmed ShrimpThe shrimp forage on the bottom consuming plant detritus, worms, decaying animal parts such as clams, fish and snails like their wild counterparts. With normal bottom surface movement shrimp stir up the bottom silt promoting the growth of algae. Some species are cannibalistic and are grown in less dense ponds. By far most food introduced are fish food pellets or brine shrimp and fed at prescribed amounts per weight of growing shrimp. Aquarium ShrimpHealthy tanks have normal reasonable amounts of algae growth on tank walls, plant and inanimate object surfaces. Scraps of uneaten fish food and dead fish will be consumed readily and keep the tank environmentally sound. Wet shrimp is commonly used as a flavoring and as a soup base in Asian cuisines (such as Thai tom yum goong) while fried shrimp is popular in North America. In Europe, shrimp is very popular, forming a necessary ingredient in Spanish paella de marisco, French bouillabaisse, Italian cacciucco, Portuguese caldeirada and many other seafood dishes. Shrimp curry is very popular in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Shrimp are also found in Latin and Caribbean dishes such as enchiladas and coconut shrimp. Other recipes include jambalaya, okonomiyaki, poon choi and bagoong. Removing the “vein” (a euphemism for the digestive tract) can be referred to as “deveining”, though in fact shrimp do not have any real veins; they have an open circulatory system. The “vein” can be removed by making a shallow cut lengthwise down the outer curve of the shrimp’s body, allowing the dark ribbon-like digestive tract to be removed with a pointed utensil. Alternatively, if the tail has been detached, the vein can be pinched at the tail end and pulled out completely with the fingers. The shrimp is then rinsed under cold running water. Recipes using shrimp form part of the cuisine of many cultures. Strictly speaking, dishes containing scampi should be made from the Norway lobster, a shrimp-like crustacean more closely related to the lobster than shrimp, but in some places it is quite common for large shrimp to be used instead. In the United Kingdom, 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 other Commonwealth nations follow this British usage to an even greater extent, using the word “prawn” almost exclusively. When Australian comedian Paul Hogan used the phrase, “I’ll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you” in an American television advertisement, 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. In Britain very small crustaceans with a brownish shell are called shrimp, and are used to make potted shrimp. They are also used in dishes where they aren’t the primary ingredient. Biologists distinguish the true shrimp from the true prawn because of the differences in their gill structures. The gill structure is lamellar in shrimp but branching in prawns. The easiest practical way to separate true shrimps from true prawns is to examine the second abdominal segment. The second segment of a shrimp overlaps both the first and the third segment, while the second segment of a prawn overlaps only the third segment. The females lay 50,000 to 1 million eggs, which hatch after some 24 hours into tiny nauplii. These nauplii feed on yolk reserves within their body and then undergo a metamorphosis into zoeae. This second larval stage feeds in the wild on algae and after a few days metamorphoses again into the third stage to become myses. At this stage the myses already begin to appear like tiny versions of fully-developed adults and feed on algae and zooplankton. After another three to four days they metamorphose a final time into postlarvae: young shrimp having all the characteristics of adults. The whole process takes about 12 days from hatching. In the wild, the marine postlarvae then migrate into estuaries, which are rich in nutrients and low in salinity. There they grow and eventually migrate back into open waters when they mature. As with other seafood, shrimp is high in calcium, iodine and protein but low in food energy. A shrimp-based meal is also a significant source of cholesterol, 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 mean that the high cholesterol content in shrimp actually improves the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and lowers triglycerides. 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 Japanese marsh shrimp (Caridina multidentata, also called “Amano shrimp,” as their use in aquaria was pioneered by Takashi Amano), cherry shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda), and ghost or glass shrimp (Palaemonetes spp.). Popular saltwater shrimp include the cleaner shrimp Lysmata amboinensis, the fire shrimp (Lysmata debelius) and the harlequin shrimp (Hymenocera picta). The term shrimp originated around the 14th century with the Middle English “shrimpe“, akin to the Middle Low German “schrempen“, and meaning to contract or wrinkle, and the Old Norse “skorpna“, meaning to shrivel up. |
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