Malacostracans · Decapoda · Sicyoniidae

Brown Rock Shrimp

Sicyonia brevirostris

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

Sicyonia brevirostris, the brown rock shrimp, is a shrimp. It is found along the coasts of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico from Norfolk, Virginia, to Yucatán, and between Cuba and the Bahamas.

Size

8 cm – 15 cm

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

OceanOmnivore Nocturnal Colonial Ocean Crustacean

5countries

Fun facts

Its shell is so thick and hard that it is peeled like a small lobster rather than like a shrimp.
Individuals bury themselves during the day leaving only their eyes clear of the sediment.
It is called a rock shrimp for its shell: thick, rigid and almost stony, quite unlike that of the ordinary penaeid prawns.
That hardness held back its commercial use for decades, because no machine could peel it at industrial speed. Purpose-built machinery had to be patented in the 1970s.
The flesh is similar in flavour and texture to lobster, hence its value on the table.
It reaches 15 cm, but shallow-water individuals rarely exceed 5.