Shrimp and Prawn?

[Ange]

I would like to find the difference between the “shrimp” and the “prawn”. There’s still an international debate on which is the shrimp and which is the prawn. Some countries say the shrimp is bigger some countries say that the prawn is bigger. Some countries made a definition that the prawn lives in fresh water and shrimp in the sea, while some countries said vice-versa. Some even say that the they’re all named shrimp, some say they’re all named prawn. What is really the definition of shrimp and prawn? Please help me…. I got a task on this. ❓

[MrMistery]

viewtopic.php?t=897

[Ange]

I’m not asking to do the assignment for me. I already finished it a long time on it. My conclusion is that they’re the same. I have found some sources. With any type of search engines you should find many sites about this. I just want to know what you guys think about shrimp and prawn. I mean it’s an international debate in biology. I’ll just write what my assignment says. Then can you make any conclusions please. Tell me what is right and what is wrong. Many people in the world are questioning about this….

What written in my assignment:
Crustaceans are Arthropods that have an ecoskeleton (like a permanent suit of armour). It’s not water tight however, which differentiates them from insects. Crustaceans also have gills and a special aquatic larval stage.
Dividing Crustaceans up gives us 6 classes. Basically, these groups cover:
* Copepods (planktonic swimmies)
* Ostrocods (small marine swimmies)
* Branchiopods (brine shrimp and Daphnia)
* Barnacles
* Branchiurans (parastic)
* Malacostracans (lobster, crabs, woodlice etc.)
It’s the Malaconstracans you’ve asked about, so they divide even further (a very diverse group!)
Here we have Isopods, Amphipods and Decapods. It’s the Decapods (meaning 10 legs) that contain all the lobsters, crabs, shrimp and prawns.
So, Mantis shrimp, king prawns, and snapping shrimp are all Decapods
(think of that classic “prawn” body plan – long slender body with lots of
legs and the head at the front with all the antennae). They’re all quite
closely related – at least with respect to their “order”. After “order”,
we divide organisms up into “family”, then “genus” and “species”.
Prawns and shrimp are very closely related – belonging to the same order (Decapoda). Both can occur in marine, estuarine and freshwater
environments, depending in the species in question.
What are prawns?
They are small ‘crustaceans’ (like crabs and lobsters) found in both marine and fresh water environments around the world. Two main groups of prawn are produced commercially: small ‘caridean’ prawns (from tropical and temperate waters) and larger ‘penaeid’ prawns (from tropical and subtropical waters).
What’s the difference between a prawn and a shrimp?
The distinction between prawns and shrimps can be confusing. In some countries the bigger penaeid species are referred to as ‘prawns’ and smaller carideans as ‘shrimp’. In other parts of the world (such as some areas of the USA), this differentiation is the other way around. As many people use the words shrimp and prawn interchangeably, EJF makes no distinction between the two.
A shrimp is a shrimp; a prawn is, well, a shrimp. The two words are used interchangeably in markets and restaurants everywhere. The textbooks may agree that a shrimp is a shrimp, but many people (and quite a few cookbooks) refer to this most popular of shellfish as a prawn.
Some people say the difference is size. In many parts of the country, small and medium shrimp are sold simply as shrimp, while large, extra-large, and jumbo shrimp are called prawns. Unfortunately, this “rule” doesn’t always hold. In some areas, all shrimp, small and large, are sold as shrimp, while in other regions, all you’ll find are prawns. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has attempted to clear things up with definitions of its own.
According to the FAO, a shrimp is a saltwater crustacean and a prawn is a freshwater crustacean.
So according to me…. They’re basically the SAME.

The question:
What is wrong, what is right.
What is the difference between shrimp and prawn.

[James]

I think you’ve said it all 😉

[MrMistery]

I am sorry. I seem to have misunderstood your intentions. I am not an expert on zoology, but i think they are synonimes. I have tried searching it a little but couldn’t find anything conclusive. seems you have studied the subject in great detail and should trust your personal conclusions

[icandy]

There IS a difference between prawns and shrimps!
There is often confusion regarding the difference between a shrimp and a prawn. Physically they look very similar but there is one sure way to tell them apart.
In shrimps or carideans the side plate of the second segment of the abdomen overlaps the segments in front and behind. Prawns, most of which belong to the family Penaeidae of the group Dendrobranchiata, have all the abdominal side plates overlapping tile-like from the front.

A more fundamental difference but one impossible to appreciate in a single specimen is that female prawns do not brood eggs but shed them into the currents where they develop independently. It would therefore make sense to call all member s of the Penaeidae "prawns" and members of the Caridean "shrimps" and this is what most Australians do.

King prawns and banana prawns are names understood in this continent for penaeids sold frozen at the markets. The tiny shrimps bought in cans or froz en are imported carideans. Confusion arises when we hear Americans refer to prawns as "shrimp".

I eat prawns all the time and have also tried shrimp, study them carefully and you’ll see the difference. [/b]

[Eolian1701]

According to Alton Brown on the foodnetwork, prawns are large shrimp.

However, in europe, any shrimplike critter is called a prawn. 😯

[Author]

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