Malacostracans · Decapoda · Penaeidae

Deep-Water Rose Shrimp

Parapenaeus longirostris

Not Evaluated

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

The deep-water rose shrimp — known in Spanish as gamba blanca or gamba de altura — is a decapod crustacean of the family Penaeidae whose habitat is generally in the Atlantic, in the area of the Gulf of Cádiz, specifically off the coast of the province of Huelva. The white prawn of Huelva is known and prized nationally and internationally for its high quality and for being landed within a few hours of capture, from which the quality label "Gambas de Huelva" takes its name.

Size

10 cm – 19 cm

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

OceanOmnivore Colonial Ocean Crustacean

21countries 35parks 64dive sites1same family

Fun facts

GeneralThe mainstay of the trawler fleet of the Gulf of Cádiz and Huelva.
The females grow considerably larger than the males, so the big prawns in a box are nearly all female.
It makes vertical migrations at night, which governs the working hours of the fleets that fish for it.
It is one of the most important target species of the Mediterranean trawl fleet.
Juveniles and adults separate out by depth, so the size a boat catches depends directly on the depth it works.
The female's gonads change colour with maturity, from white to dark green, which makes it possible to judge reproductive state at a glance.