Ocean Facts
Picture of ocean stuff.

Description

The rock shrimp (Sicyonia brevirostris) is a deep-water cousin of pink, brown, and white shrimps. The similarity among these shrimp stops there, because rock shrimp have a tough, hard exoskeleton or shell that prevented widespread marketing until a machine was invented to split and devein the headed shrimp. Now, rock shrimp are widely available as fresh or frozen,whole, headless, shell-on, peeled, round, split, or deveined products. rock shrimp live, spawn, and are harvested in 120 feet to 240 feet of water. Harvesting is accomplished with reinforced trawl nets throughout the year. Properly handled rock shrimp will have transparent or clear white flesh with no discoloration. The odor of fresh rock shrimp will be mild and ocean-like. Rock shrimp are sold by "count" (number of shrimp per pound) and the largest size generally available is 21-25 per pound.