Whiteleg shrimp

Whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei, synonym Penaeus vannamei), also known as Pacific white shrimp or King prawn or White shrimp, is a species of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food.

Whiteleg shrimp
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Suborder:	Dendrobranchiata
Family:	Penaeidae
Genus:	Litopenaeus
Species:	L. vannamei
Binomial name
Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) [1]
Synonyms
Penaeus vannamei Boone, 1931

Global aquaculture production of Whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) in million tonnes from 1980 to 2022, as reported by the FAO^[2]

Description

Litopenaeus vannamei grows to a maximum length of 230 mm (9.1 in), with a carapace length of 90 mm (3.5 in).^[3] Adults live in the ocean, at depths to 72 m (236 ft), while juveniles live in estuaries.^[3] The rostrum is moderately long, with 7–10 teeth on the dorsal side and two to four teeth on the ventral side.^[3] The global production of white shrimp had increased to approximately 5 million metric tons, with a market value reaching USD 30 billion in 2018^[4].

Distribution and habitat

Whiteleg shrimp are native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, from the Mexican state of Sonora to as far south as northern Peru.^[3] It is a euryhaline tropical shrimp species capable of growing in salinities ranging from 0 to 40‰^[5], with the optimal salinity for growth being between 15 and 25‰^[6]. The optimal pH for white shrimp is approximately 7.56^[7], and dissolved oxygen levels should be maintained above 2.8 mg/L^[8]. White shrimp can grow in water temperatures ranging from 15°C to 38°C, with the optimal growth temperature between 22°C and 35°C, it is restricted to areas where the water temperatures remain above 20 °C (68 °F) throughout the year.^[9]

Fishery and aquaculture

During the 20th century, L. vannamei was an important species for Mexican inshore fishermen, as well as for trawlers further offshore.^[3] In the late 20th century, the wild fishery was overtaken by the development of aquaculture production; this began in 1973 in Florida using prawns captured in Panama, that were used in hatcheries for larvae production.^[9]

According to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), shrimp farming accounted for 18% of the total global aquaculture trade volume in 2018. In 2017, the global shrimp production was approximately 5,511,914 metric tons, with white shrimp accounting for 80% of the total production^[10].

In Latin America, the culture of L. vannamei started to develop with the availability of hatchery larvae, the development of feeds, the technification of the growth processes, the freezing installations and market channels, among others.^{[citation needed]}

From Mexico to Peru, most countries developed large production areas in the 70s and 80s. Ecuador became one of the world leaders producers of this type of shrimp.^{[citation needed]}

Around the beginning of the millennium, Asia introduced this species in their aquaculture operations (changing from Penaeus monodon). China, Vietnam, India and others have become major packers as well.^{[citation needed]}

The packing of shrimp from aquaculture origin has surpassed the quantity of ocean caught wild shrimp in recent years. Both origins, ocean caught and aquaculture, are subject to weather changes and diseases.^{[citation needed]}

By 2004, global production of L. vannamei approached 1,116,000 t, and exceeded that of Penaeus monodon.^[9]

Litopenaeus vannamei have been cultivated indoors through a recirculating aquaculture systems at TransparentSea Farm, a startup in Downey, California.^[11]

Weather effect

Normally, there are peaks of production during the warm El Niño years, and reduced production during the cooler La Niña years. The effect is on ocean caught as well as on aquaculture origin.^{[citation needed]}

Diseases

There are several known diseases.^[9] Production of L. vannamei is limited by its susceptibility to white spot syndrome, Taura syndrome, infectious hypodermal and haematopoietic necrosis, baculoviral midgut gland necrosis, and Vibrio infections.^[9]Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis syndrome (AHPND), caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus, was initially referred to as Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS). It has caused significant economic losses in the white shrimp aquaculture industry^[12].

Impact on nature

In 2010, Greenpeace International added the whiteleg shrimp to its seafood red list. This lists fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries.^[13] The reasons given by Greenpeace were "destruction of vast areas of mangroves in several countries, overfishing of juvenile shrimp from the wild to supply shrimp farms, and significant human rights abuses".^[13] In 2016, L. vannamei accounted for 53% of the total production of farmed crustaceans globally.^[14]

See also

• Macrobrachium rosenbergii, the giant freshwater prawns
• Pandalus borealis, Canadian northern prawns