The Bottom Line: Delicious facts about shrimp!
The Full Story:
- There are over 128 species of shrimp.
- A shrimp can average about six-inches while the longest ever found was at 16-inches.
- Most shrimp are omnivorous, but some are specialized for particular modes of feeding.
- Shrimp are primarily swimmers, not crawlers.
- Some shrimp can live as long as six and a half years, while some only live about a year or so.
- There are 16 different stages of life are found in shrimp from egg to full adult.
- Shrimp DANCE! To attract fish, cleaning shrimp wave their white antennae and do a little dance. Several shrimp species, known as cleaners, safely venture inside the open mouths of fishes to remove bloodsucking parasites.
- Every shrimp is actually born a male and then become females as they mature.
- The average shrimp has 10 legs.
- The name for raw, uncooked shrimp is “green."
- The pistol shrimp can deliver an explosive attack hotter than the surface of the sun and loud enough to rupture a human ear drum.
- Most shrimp are breeding machines - within hours after their eggs hatch, females are carrying a new batch of fertilized embryos.