Some shrimp facts

Shrimp is a common name for any of several decapod shellfish belonging to the suborder Macrura. Shrimps are distinguished from lobsters and crayfish by the greater development of the paddlelike swimming appendages on the segments of the abdomen, and from the prawns by the inconspicuous rostrum, or beak, which is radically different from the large serrated rostrum of the prawns. In form the shrimps are long and tapering, with the abdomen arched, giving the shellfish a humpbacked appearance. In color shrimps are translucent gray, speckled with brown. The common shrimps are members of the genus Crago. In the United States the principal sources of shrimps are the warm waters off the southeastern and Gulf States.

Some facts about shrimps

• The term shrimp originated around the fourteenth century with the Middle English shrimpe, akin to the Middle Low German schrempen, and meaning to contract or wrinkle; and the Old Norse skorpna, meaning to shrivel up.
• Squilla is the Latin word for shrimp.
• Apicius, a famous Roman author, collected many shrimp recipes in his cookbook.
• The common shrimp is very active at night hours and hunts using its sense of smell
• The first reference to shrimp cocktail in the NY Times is an advertisement.
• The largest shrimps are cannibals, eating the younger shrimps.
• During the summer, the common shrimp eats ten percent of its own body weight daily
• The words prawn and shrimp are used almost interchangeable.
• Shrimp can be served cold or hot.