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SHRIMP

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 1020 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SHRIMP , a name applied in See also:

general to the smaller See also:crustacea of the See also:order Macrura and in particular to an edible See also:species found on the coasts of See also:northern See also:Europe (Crangon vulgaris). The shrimps and their See also:allies are distinguished from the larger Macrura, such as the lobsters and crayfishes, by greater development of the See also:paddle-like limbs of the See also:abdomen or tail, which are used in See also:swimming. The abdomen is usually sharply See also:bent between the third and See also:fourth segments and has a characteristically humped See also:appearance when straightened out. The See also:common shrimp is found abundantly on the coasts of the See also:British Islands, in shallow See also:water wherever the bottom is sandy. It is 2 or 3 in. See also:long, slightly flattened and with the rostrum or See also:beak, in front of the See also:carapace, very See also:short. It is of a translucent greyish See also:colour, speckled with See also:brown and closely resembles the See also:sand in which it lives. On many parts of the See also:coast the shrimp See also:fishery is of considerable importance. The See also:instrument generally employed is a bag-shaped See also:net attached to a semicircular hoop, provided with a long handle and pushed over the See also:surface of the sand by a fisherman wading in the water at ebb-See also:tide. When boiled, the See also:body becomes of a brownish colour and on this See also:account the species is sometimes termed the " brown shrimp." The name of " See also:pink shrimp " is given to Pandalus montagui or annulicornis, which turns red on boiling and which resembles in See also:form the larger " prawns," having a long rostrum or beak, saw-edged above and below. The smaller species of Leander, especially L. squilla, are sold as " See also:cup-shrimps " in some places. The larger shrimp-like crustacea are generally known as " prawns," the name being especially applied in See also:Britain to the species Leander serratus, formerly called See also:Palaemon serratus, which is highly esteemed for the table. In warmer seas many other kinds of prawns are caught for See also:food.

These are generally species of the genus Penaeus (like P. caramote of the Mediterranean) which are distinguished from all those already mentioned by having pincers on the first three, instead of only on the first two pairs of legs. The large See also:

river-prawns of the genus Palaemon (closely allied to Leander) found in most tropical countries are also often used as food. In the See also:West Indies Palaemon jamaicensis, and in the See also:East Indies See also:Pal. carcinus attain almost the dimensions of full-grown lobsters. The name of shrimps is sometimes given to members of the order Schizopoda, which differ from most of the Macrura in having swimming branches or exopodites on the thoracic legs. In particular the Schizopods of the See also:family Mysidae, which are abundant in the See also:sea See also:round our coasts, are often called " Opossums shrimps " from the fact that the See also:female is provided with a ventral pouch or " marsupium " in which the eggs and See also:young are carried. (W. T.

End of Article: SHRIMP

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