Croatian fishermen catch largest shrimp ever seen in the Adriatic Sea
- by croatiaweek
- in News
(Photo credit: Gastro ribarnice Brač)
“We’ve got a real catch! After 22 years in business, the sea can still surprise us. We got our hands on the Centaurus record holder – the largest Adriatic shrimp we’ve ever seen,” wrote the Gastro Fish Market Brač.
“We had to share it with you because if someone told you, you wouldn’t believe them.”
They also provided photos of the whopping 25 cm long shrimp.
(Photo credit: Gastro ribarnice Brač)
Expert Pero Ugarković from the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Split confirmed told N1 that it is an American shrimp species, Penaeus aztecus, which has previously been recorded in Croatian waters.
Along with the recent increase in the number of common shrimp and blue crab, we now have this game species. After initial catches of individual specimens, it will probably become more common. This will be good for fishermen and the overall gastronomic offer, but the question is how it will affect the Adriatic biodiversity – emphasised Ugarković.
Ugarković, together with his colleague Fabio Crocetto, published a scientific paper describing the appearance of the American shrimp species. In the paper, they highlight that most specimens were caught by trawling on muddy substrates at depths of 50 to 200 m, and local fishermen reported them to the authors of this study.
The exact path by which this species came to Croatian sea is still not entirely clear.
