Shrimp habitat. Shrimp fishing - what you need to know about the seafood delicacy. What do shrimp eat?

Shrimp (lat. Caridea) - belong to the infraorder of crustaceans from the order Decapoda. In total there are about 250 genera and of these there are 2 thousand species of shrimp. The size of the shrimp varies. Adults can be from 2 to 30 centimeters. The body consists of the cephalothorax, abdominal and caudal sections, compressed laterally. Shrimp in nature is a very important step in the food chain. Without it, almost all marine life could not exist.

The shrimp's external skeleton, also known as the carapace, consists of chitin and minerals. The last segments of the abdomen (uropods) are wide plates that form a tail fan with which the shrimp can make sudden swimming movements. The shrimp has long antennae (whiskers) - these are the organs of touch and smell. Under the antennae there are organs of chemical sense - antenules.

Features of shrimp

How many legs do shrimp have? The answer seems to be obvious, but not all shrimp limbs are legs. Five rear pairs of thoracic legs are used for locomotion. The thoracic limbs have eight pairs, three of which are jaws for capturing food and self-defense. The other five pairs of thoracic limbs are used when moving. The legs located on the abdomen (pleopods) are used for swimming and for bearing eggs. The first pair of legs in males evolved into a copulatory organ. Lifespan different types Shrimp life can range from 1-2 years for dwarf shrimp and up to 10 years for longclaw shrimp.

Where do shrimps live?

Shrimp have spread widely throughout the world's oceans, and many species have colonized fresh waters. IN tropical seas There is greater species diversity. In Russia, shrimp live on Far East, where their fauna comprises more than 100 species. Also found in Ukraine in the Azov and Black Seas.

Lifestyle and behavior

What do shrimp eat?

Shrimp mainly feed on plankton, parts of algae, small invertebrates (insect larvae, worms), and quickly completely consume dead fish. Shrimps of the Palaemon species, less commonly Macrobrachium, can also prey on juvenile fish if they are hungry.

Shrimp breeding

Shrimp are dioecious. Many species are protandrous hermaphrodites, meaning they change sex from male to female during life.

Shrimp lay up to 150 thousand eggs. From them the zoea larva appears; in primitive shrimps, the nauplius. Shrimp larvae are small planktonic organisms that serve as food for other animal species. Larvae are very sensitive to external environment.

Natural enemies in nature

A large number of young individuals die at the larval stage, and only a small percentage of them survive to adulthood. Whales, whale sharks and other planktivores feed on small shrimp. They also become prey for other marine animals, from bottom fish to mollusks, seabirds and mammals.

How is it used by humans?

Shrimp meat is rich in proteins and amino acids. Like other seafood, they are high in iodine. They contain all fat-soluble vitamins: K, A, E, D, vitamins C (ascorbic acid), B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B9 (folic acid), PP (niacin), B-carotene. This real natural treasure contains calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, manganese, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, fluorine, sulfur, zinc. The only drawback of shrimp is its high cholesterol content.

In science, there is no species of “king” shrimp; this is the conventional name for all large shrimp. Most close-up view shrimp - black tiger shrimp, reaches 36 cm in length and 650 grams in weight.

Every year, more than 3.5 million tons of shrimp worth 10 billion dollars are caught in the seas and oceans. Bottom trawling for shrimp destroys their habitat for up to 40 years.

The majority of large and giant thirty-centimeter shrimp are grown on special farms. Due to such production, mangrove swamps and Coral reefs. Farmed shrimp are filled with chemicals such as urea and superphosphate. If these farms are located in the sea, then the tides carry production waste into the sea.

By the way, researchers found 162 species of microbes in a batch of shrimp that were resistant to 10 different antibiotics.

Aquarist with shrimp

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Shrimp: a way of life

Freshwater shrimp, where they live, are an important element of the fauna of water bodies, an essential link in the food chain. Many fish eat them and waterfowl. Have freshwater shrimp and significant economic importance.

By the end of the 20th century. The freshwater shrimp Exopalaemon modestus was discovered in the Kapchagay reservoir in Kazakhstan, and in Uzbekistan, in the Chirchik and Syrdarya rivers, in the Arnasay lakes, the Chinese shrimp Macrobrachium nipponense has taken root. It was accidentally introduced into fish ponds along with juveniles Far Eastern fish from China. The same shrimp accidentally ended up in artificial cooling ponds at hydroelectric power stations in the Moscow region, then at the Ryazan State District Power Plant, and began to multiply there beautifully in the constantly warm water. They were already specially settled in the cooling lakes of state district power plants in Belarus and Moldova. In such reservoirs, shrimp eat lower algae, which develop en masse in warm water, and themselves serve as food for many fish. In particular, they are readily eaten by pike perch. Breeding experiments are currently underway in food purposes giant eastern Rosenberg shrimp in the Volga delta and in warm-water basins in the Crimea.

As observations in Belarus have shown, in the cooling ponds of state regional power plants, the number of shrimp can increase by 8.7 times or more over the course of a year. In Moldova, two years after their settlement, their number increased from 2 thousand to 600 thousand.

Freshwater shrimp are quite valuable product nutrition, which is essential in the tropics and subtropics. They are grown in ponds and rice paddies in two dozen countries around the world. In constantly warm water, shrimp can reproduce year-round and reach large numbers: up to 50 crustaceans per 1 m3 of water. In the USA, India, Australia, and Israel, the number of shrimp in ponds can grow 60 times per season. Mainly 10–16 species of the genus Macrobrachium are grown, some representatives of which reach a length of 30 cm and weigh 150–250 g (for example, the already mentioned giant eastern Rosenberg shrimp, Macrobrachium rosenbergii).

You can learn a lot of interesting things about shrimp by observing them in an aquarium. These creatures get along well in captivity and over the last decade have become quite widespread among aquarists. They cleanse aquarium plants from fouling with lower algae, they act as orderlies, complement the diversity of the population of an indoor reservoir, usually limited only to fish, and decorate the underwater landscape with their original appearance. The aquariums contain Japanese marsh shrimp (Caridina japonica), South Asian bee shrimp (Caridina serrata) and bumblebee shrimp from the genus Neocaridina, Far Eastern freshwater shrimp. Small shrimp, for example, caridina bee, live in captivity for 1–1.5 years, large ones for 2–4 years.

A volume of 7–10 liters per individual is sufficient for shrimp; they prefer a sandy bottom, clean water, feed on detritus, leftover fish food, and microalgae. Large shrimp can sometimes attack sick or, less commonly, fish sleeping on the bottom at night. They usually do not touch healthy active fish. Attacks on fish and cannibalism are more often observed in stressful situations for shrimp - after transplantation, with a lack of regular food, overcrowding, sudden changes conditions of detention, in particular, significant temperature changes for 1–2 hours.

According to some information, shrimp of the genus Caridina require brackish water for the development of eggs and larvae, and Neocaridina bumblebees also reproduce in fresh water. But the biological features of many species of shrimp have not yet been sufficiently studied, so it is interesting to recommend that schoolchildren keep them, along with fish, in aquariums and observe them. Topics to observe may include the following.

1. Variability of color: lightening and darkening depending on the intensity of lighting, time of day, color of the soil in different species. Effect of nutrition on color. Thus, when eating red mosquito larvae (bloodworms), the body of shrimp can turn pink, when eating dark tubifex worms, it can darken, and when feeding on green algae, it can turn green.

2. Observations of the movements and orientation of shrimp are instructive. Walking legs on the cephalothorax help them walk on the ground and climb vertically on plants. Here they are also held with the help of abdominal swimming legs, which in other cases help the shrimp to swim both forward - horizontally, and up and down - vertically. The movements of the caudal peduncles - uropods and the bending of the end of the abdomen help the shrimp not only quickly jump back a considerable distance, but also drive away other shrimp and fish. Also, the molting shrimp, whose legs have not yet hardened, moves with sharp flexions and extensions of the abdomen and pushes.

When searching for food, the shrimp primarily uses its antennae, claws, and jaws, all the while feeling the substrate around it. Its eyes distinguish only relatively large, closely located objects and are used when viewing the surrounding space when swimming and moving and when monitoring the approach of danger. This can be noticed when catching shrimp with a net.

3. Observations of the behavior of shrimp are of interest. Large macrobrachiums and palemons exhibit elements of territoriality, often stay in one corner of the aquarium, and try not to let other shrimp and fish in there. But we did not observe any fights among the shrimps - they, putting their open claws forward, quickly spread to the sides when they meet. Males vying for a female behave in a similar way. Males guard females during molting and mating.

4. Experiments on feeding shrimp, their choice of food items, the effect of temperature on the growth and development of shrimp, and the frequency of molting are worthy of attention. The shrimp quickly begin to recognize the place where food constantly appears, and try to stay nearby all the time. This is how they form conditioned reflex to the place and time of feeding. This indicates a certain development and complexity nervous system shrimp: they have more plastic behavior than arachnids and a number of insects that almost do not form conditioned reflexes.

It is worth paying attention to the structure of the discarded shells - exuviae. When shrimp molt, damaged or previously lost limbs grow back and the process of their regeneration occurs. This is especially noticeable in young ones, as they shed more often.

5. Reproduction of shrimp is a special area of ​​observation. The peculiarities of the female's care for the eggs and the change in their color as they mature are interesting. Females can regularly lay unfertilized eggs, which they then gradually lose. You can trace the influence of temperature and salinity of water on the development of eggs. Finally, the complex development process of shrimp larvae is very interesting. If you manage to grow ten young shrimp from larvae in an aquarium, that’s already big success. You can feed the larvae with particles of milk powder, yeast, boiled egg yolk, ground grain sprayed in water...

The commercial shrimp or chilim or shrimp, unlike their fellow decapods, have adapted to life in the water column. This affected the structure of the shrimp.

The shrimp has an elongated body, while it is flattened on the sides. The body is divided into 2 main sections - the abdomen and the cephalothorax, which is almost half the length of the body.

At the beginning of the cephalothorax shell there is a pair of compound eyes located in special recesses.

Each eye is formed from a large number of facets, and their number increases with age. Facets separate age spots from each other. Each facet perceives only those rays that fall perpendicular to the cornea. Some facets see only a small part of the object that the shrimp is looking at, and the remaining parts are seen by other facets. That is, shrimp have mosaic vision. At night, the pigments diverge to the bases of the eyes, due to which oblique rays reach the retina, and the shrimp begins to see objects in full, but they are blurry.

The cephalothorax is protected by a durable chitinous shell, which is formed from two plates and attached to the gills. The lower part of the chitinous shell is soft and thin.

Shrimp have 19 pairs of limbs, all of which are responsible for certain actions. The antennae are used as organs of touch; with the help of the mandibles, the shrimp crushes prey, and it holds it with its jaws. Thin long legs, at the end of which there are small claws, play a special role - with the help of them the shrimp clean their bodies, they also insert these legs into the cavity of the toads and clean them if they are clogged. The remaining legs are used to move along the ground; they are longer and thicker in size than the other legs. The abdominal limbs are used during swimming.

It’s interesting to watch the behavior of shrimp while snorkeling in warm waters Sea of ​​Japan. If you move the lush algae, the shrimp begin to jump out of them, like grasshoppers in a meadow.

It has a wide and strong caudal fin. Shrims bends him sharply and moves with thrusts. When the shrimp stops, it straightens its small oar legs under its tail and begins to quickly move them, swimming between the algae. In this case, the pectoral legs and antennae are pressed to the body. When a shrimp lands on algae and freezes, it moves its long antennae to the sides.

Chilims have orange legs. The eyes are violet. When Sun rays pass through the body of the shrimp, it shines through and gives off an emerald tint. The chilim reaches 18 centimeters in length. Along the body are dark stripes, which serve to camouflage the shrimp among marine plants. Only when you get close can you notice the shrimp.

If you lure a shrimp with a piece of meat or fish, they gather in small groups near the prey. At the slightest movement, they jump to the sides, while swimming away backwards, sharply bending their abdomen and pushing off the water with their caudal fin and abdominal legs.

What do shrimp eat?

The shrimp diet consists not only of animal food (plankton), but also algae and soil. A large number of shrimp accumulate near fishing nets, and they eat the fish so quickly that if the fishermen do not get the net in time, they will be left with only naked skeletons.

They find food using their senses of touch and smell. If a shrimp loses its eyes, then it can find prey in 4-5 minutes, and if the first pair of antennae is lost, this time increases to 20 minutes; if both pairs of antennae are lost, the shrimp find prey even longer, while they use the toes of walking legs and bristles of the oral appendages, characterized by high sensitivity.

Far Eastern shrimp

Shrimp are bisexual organisms, but their female and male gonads form at different times. When sexual maturity occurs, the shrimp first transforms into a male, and in the third year of life it transforms into a female. Females glue eggs to the hairs of the abdominal legs and carry them with them until larvae emerge from them.

Palemon shrimp

Shrimp are fished in the seas Pacific Ocean, in the Atlantic and northern seas. These are the most sought after commercial creatures; up to a million tons of shrimp are caught annually.

Shrimp are crustaceans, which are representatives of the order of decapods. They are widely distributed throughout all bodies of water in the world's oceans. The length of an adult shrimp does not exceed 30 centimeters and weighs 20 grams.

Science knows more than 2,000 individuals that live, including in fresh waters. Taste qualities shrimp have become the target of industrial exploitation. Today, the practice of shrimp cultivation is widespread throughout the world.

Features and habitat of shrimp

Shrimp are unique animals in terms of their body structure. Features of shrimp lie in their anatomy. Shrimp are one of the rare crustaceans that shed and change their shells.

Her genitals and heart are located in the head area. The digestive and urinary organs are also located there. Like most crustaceans, shrimp breathes using gills.

The gills of the shrimp are protected by a shell and are located next to the walking legs. IN in good condition their blood is light blue in color; when there is a lack of oxygen, it becomes discolored.

Shrimp live in almost all large bodies of water in the world. Their range is limited only to the harsh Arctic and Antarctic waters. They have adapted to life in warm and cold, salt and fresh water. Largest number shrimp species are concentrated in equatorial regions. The further from the equator, the smaller their population.

Character and lifestyle of shrimp

Shrimps play important role in the ecosystem of seas and oceans. They clean the bottom of reservoirs from the remains of tubifex worms, aquatic insects and fish. Their diet consists of rotting plants and detritus - black silt formed as a result of the decomposition of fish and algae.

They drive active image life: they surf the bottom in search of food, crawl along the leaves of plants, clearing them of snail leeches. Shrimp maneuverability in water is provided by walking legs on the cephalothorax and abdominal swimming legs, and the movements of the caudal peduncles allow them to quickly jump back and scare away their enemies.

Aquarium shrimp perform the functions of a nurse. They rid the reservoir of fouling by lower algae and feed on the remains of their dead “brethren.” Sometimes they can attack sick or sleeping fish. Cannibalism among these crustaceans is rare. It usually only appears in stressful situations or in conditions of prolonged hunger.

Types of shrimp

All famous sciences Shrimp species are divided into four groups:

• Warm water;
• Cold water;
• Brackish water;
• Freshwater.

The habitat of warm-water shrimp is limited southern seas and oceans. They are caught not only in natural environment habitats, but also cultivated under artificial conditions. Science knows more than a hundred species of warm-water shrimp. Examples of such shellfish are black tiger and white tiger shrimp.

The photo shows a white tiger shrimp

Cold-water shrimp are the most common of the known subspecies. Their habitat is wide: they are found in the Baltic, Barents, North Seas, off the coast of Greenland and Canada.

At description of shrimp It is worth mentioning of such individuals that their length is 10-12 cm, and their weight is 5.5-12 grams. Cold-water shrimp cannot be artificially propagated and develop only in their natural habitat.

They feed exclusively on environmentally friendly plankton, which has a positive effect on their quality. The most famous representatives of this subspecies are the northern red shrimp, northern chilim shrimp and red comb shrimp.

Pictured is chilim shrimp

Shrimp, common in salty waters seas and oceans are called saltwater. So, in Atlantic Ocean Reds live king prawns, northern white, southern pink, northern pink, serrated and other individuals.

The photo shows serrated shrimp

On the South American coasts you can find Chilean shrimp. Waters of the Black, Baltic and Mediterranean seas rich in herbaceous and sand shrimps.

The photo shows a grassy shrimp

Freshwater shrimp mainly live in the countries of Southeast and South Asia, Australia, Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. The length of such individuals is 10-15 centimeters and weighs from 11 to 18 grams. Most known species— troglocar shrimp, Palaemon superbus, Macrobachium rosenbergii.

Shrimp food

The basis shrimp nutrition constitute dying aquatic plants and organic residues. In their natural habitat they are scavengers. Shrimp will not refuse the pleasure of feasting on the remains of dead fish or even juvenile fish.

Among plants, they prefer to feed on those with fleshy and succulent leaves, for example, ceratopteris. In the process of searching for food, shrimp use the organs of touch and smell. Turning its antennas in different directions, it looks around the area and tries to find prey.

In search of vegetation individual species shrimp, living closer to the equator, dig up the soil of the reservoir. They run around its perimeter until they run into food, and then, approaching it within a centimeter, they suddenly attack it. Blind individuals living at the bottom of the Black Sea feed on silt, grinding it with their mandibles - well-developed jaws.

For shrimp grown in aquariums, specially developed compound feeds are produced, enriched nutrients and iodine. It is not recommended to feed them perishable vegetables.

As food you can use lightly boiled carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, dandelion leaves, clover, cherries, chestnuts, walnut. A real feast for a shrimp is the remains of an aquarium shrimp or its fellow shrimp.

Reproduction and lifespan of shrimp

During puberty, the female shrimp begins the process of forming eggs that resemble a green-yellow mass. When the female is ready to mate, she releases pheromones into the water - substances that have a specific odor.

Sensing this smell, the males become more active in search of a partner and fertilize her. This process takes no more than a minute. Then the shrimp produces caviar. The norm for an adult female is a clutch of 20-30 eggs. Embryonic development of larvae lasts from 10 to 30 days depending on temperature environment.

During the process of embryogenesis, larvae go through 9-12 stages. At this time, changes occur in their structure: at the beginning, the jaws are formed, a little later - the cephalothorax. Most of the hatched larvae die due to unfavorable conditions or the “work” of predators. As a rule, 5-10% of the brood reach maturity. At shrimp farming in the aquarium it is possible to preserve up to 30% of the offspring.

The larvae lead a sedentary lifestyle and are not able to obtain food, feeding on the available food. Last stage The development of these mollusks is called decapodite. During this period, the larva leads a lifestyle no different from an adult shrimp. Average, life cycle shrimp life lasts from 1.5 to 6 years.

Fresh shrimp must be properly frozen. The coloring should be even, the ice glaze should be thin, and the tail should be pressed against the belly. White spots on the shell or snow flakes in the package mean that the shrimp have been defrosted several times. Pay attention to the shrimp's head, if there is one. Pregnant shrimp have a brown head; their meat is the most delicious and healthy. A green head indicates that the shrimp was feeding on algae and special kind plankton. But a black head indicates a serious illness; eating such a shrimp is dangerous to health. Black spots on the shell are also unacceptable.

What shrimp most often end up in Russia?

According to the data, northern red shrimp are most often imported to Russia, followed by northern chilim and red comb shrimp.

By the way, they are red even when raw. These shrimps are boiled alive in sea ​​water and immediately frozen after cooking. You can distinguish a boiled shrimp from a raw one by its tail: a boiled one has a curl, while a raw one has a straight tail. Market research showed that in Russia northern shrimp are supplied only boiled frozen, and these have a straight tail - a sign that the shrimp was boiled already dead.

An analysis of the frozen shrimp market in Russia emphasized the following point: Russian fishermen catch shrimp, but send them to the USA, South Korea and Japan, and Russia buys shrimp caught by the Danes and Canadians. This is justified by economic benefits.

Another nuance concerns the size or “caliber” of the shrimp. On the packaging you can find the following numbers - 50/70 (pieces per kilogram), or 70/90 and 90/120. larger number, the smaller the shrimp. So, cold-water shrimp are small, and size 70/90 is already rare for them. It is better to buy shrimp of 90/120 caliber, for all others more ice than meat.

Small shrimp don't mean bad

The smaller the shrimp, the juicier its meat and the brighter its taste. The data from the shrimp market review should also be taken into account: cold-blooded shrimp are caught in their natural habitat, and warm-water shrimp in industrial scale grown on farms.

Interesting fact. So-called “king” shrimps do not exist in nature. This name includes all large warm-water shrimp, except for tiger shrimp, which are so named because of the specific color of their shell.

IN different countries their own king prawns - there are white Pacific, Indian, Chinese, Japanese sweet shrimp, Atlantic red and even giant freshwater shrimp that live in South-East Asia. But only 20% of the total king prawns are caught in their natural habitat. The remaining 80% comes from farms where shrimp are bred in special ponds.

Where are “king prawns” imported to Russia from?

As a study of the frozen shrimp market has shown, large shrimp are brought to Russia from China, India and Bangladesh. Farmed shrimp are always larger than wild shrimp, and the manufacturer’s packaging should indicate that this is a product of aquaculture. Boiled frozen king prawns are sold in three types - uncut, with the shell without a head, or completely peeled. By the way, despite the impressive size - 25-30 cm in length, meat in king prawn only 30% of total weight, the rest is the head.

Tiger prawns - where do they come from?

Mainly farmed tiger shrimp are supplied to Russia. Blacks are brought from India and China tiger shrimp, and from Indonesia and Thailand - ordinary. They differ in color - ordinary ones have dark stripes on a light carapace, while black ones have the opposite. The size of tiger prawns is even larger than that of king prawns - 30-35 cm, and meat is 50% of the total weight