Shrimp
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| A shrimp in an aquarium | |||||||||||
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Shrimp are small, swimming decapod crustaceans in the infraorder Caridea. There are shrimp in both fresh water and salt water.
Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important food source for larger animals from fish to whales. They have a high tolerance to toxins in polluted areas, and may contribute to high toxin levels in their predators.
Shrimp are related to prawns. In cooking, the criterion is often only the size of the animal (prawn are bigger).
Biologically, prawns and shrimp can be told apart by the structure of their gills. In prawns, the gills are branching, in shrimp they are not.
Many shrimp species are caught to be eaten. Usually, the head, and the digestive tract are removed before the shrimp is eaten.
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