Litopenaeus setiferus

File:Litopenaeus setiferus.jpg

File:Penaeus diagram.png

Diagram of Litopenaeus setiferus

Litopenaeus setiferus (also accepted: Penaeus setiferus,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and known by various common names including Atlantic white shrimp, white shrimp, gray shrimp, lake shrimp, green shrimp, green-tailed shrimp, blue-tailed shrimp, rainbow shrimp, Daytona shrimp, Mayport Shrimp, common shrimp, southern shrimp, and, in Mexico, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is a species of prawn found along the Atlantic coast of North America and in the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name="Muncy">Template:Cite report</ref> It was the subject of the earliest shrimp fishery in the United States.

Distribution

The range of L. setiferus extends from Fire Island, New York to Ciudad Campeche, Mexico.<ref name="Muncy"/> It requires warm water, and is unable to survive below Template:Convert, with appreciable growth only occurring at temperatures over Template:Convert.<ref name="Muncy"/>

Description

Litopenaeus setiferus may reach a total length (excluding antennae) of Template:Convert, with females being larger than males.<ref name="Muncy"/> The antennae may be up to three times the length of the body, which is bluish white with a tinge of pink on the sides, and black spots.<ref name="SI">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The pleopods are often redder, and the uropods and telson are green.<ref name="SI"/> The rostrum is long and thin, with 5–11 teeth on the upper edge and two on the lower edge, and continues along the carapace as a dorsal carina (ridge).<ref name="SI"/> Deep grooves alongside the carina separate the related species Farfantepenaeus aztecus ("brown shrimp") and Farfantepenaeus duorarum ("pink shrimp") from L. setiferus,<ref name="Muncy"/><ref name="SI"/> which is sometimes called the non-grooved shrimp.<ref name="Muncy"/>Template:Rp

Ecology

Litopenaeus setiferus lives in estuaries and from the littoral zone to water with a depth of Template:Convert in the Atlantic, or up to Template:Convert in the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name="SI"/> Litopenaeus setiferus is an omnivore; in Lake Pontchartrain, it feeds chiefly on the seagrass Vallisneria americana and detritus.<ref name="Davis">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Many aquatic animals feed on L. setiferus, including fish such as red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and turtles such as the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta).<ref name="Davis"/>

Life cycle

Spawning in L. setiferus occurs while the water is warm, between the increase in water temperatures in the spring and the sudden decline in temperature in the fall.<ref name="Muncy"/> It generally occurs within Template:Convert of the shoreline, in water less than Template:Convert deep in the Atlantic, or Template:Convert deep in the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name="Muncy"/> Males attach a spermatophore to the females, which is then used to fertilize the eggs as they are released.<ref name="Muncy"/> Each female releases 500,000–1,000,000 purplish eggs, each Template:Convert across, which sink to the bottom of the water column.<ref name="Muncy"/>

After 10–12 hours, the eggs hatch into nauplius larvae, which are Template:Convert long, planktonic and unable to feed.<ref name="Muncy"/> They molt five times to reach the protozoa stage, Template:Convert long. These grow to Template:Convert long over two molts, before passing through three molts as a mysis larva.<ref name="Muncy"/> About 15–20 days after hatching, the animals reaches the postlarva stage; in the second postlarval stage, at a length of Template:Convert, they begin to enter estuaries and drop down to the substrate.<ref name="Muncy"/>

Spring rains flush the shrimp out into the ocean. In the Eastern United States, shrimp then migrate south towards warmer waters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Fishery

Subsistence fishing for prawns was carried out by Native Americans along the Atlantic coast.<ref name="Riekerk">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This knowledge was passed on to European settlers,<ref name="Riekerk"/> and Litopenaeus setiferus became the subject of the earliest shrimp fishery in the United States, with commercial fishery for L. setiferus starting as early as 1709.<ref name="Muncy"/>

The harvesting for L. setiferus began in the 1950s and since that time is collected monthly throughout Gulf of Mexico.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other references

• White shrimp NOAA FishWatch. Retrieved 4 November 2012.