Every year at this time, live shrimps begin to be sold in the market, and the vendors selling shrimps must swear: "Pure sea shrimps are delicious"!

My mother worked in an aquatic product company before she retired. It can be said that she has dealt with all kinds of seafood all her life, and she is very good at distinguishing between seawater shrimp and freshwater shrimp.

Are the lively prawns on the market now seawater or fresh water? How to identify?

First, the variety of lively prawns on the market now

The shrimp culture technology can be said to be very mature now, and all the lively prawns on the market are now cultured. Because this species of Ecuadorian white shrimp can be cultured in both fresh water and seawater.

It has a wide adaptability and grows fast. After it was introduced and bred by us, it is now widely promoted, so the live shrimps sold in the market are basically the Ecuadorian white shrimp.

There is also a striped shrimp in the market, which is called "metapenaeus ensis" because it is enclosed in a shrimp pond. However, the price of metapenaeus ensis is much more expensive than that of Ecuadorian white shrimp, and its characteristics are obvious, which is easy for everyone to recognize.

second, how to distinguish between freshwater shrimp and mariculture shrimp

Look at the color of shrimp: mariculture shrimp is salty, and seawater is darker than freshwater, so the body color of mariculture white shrimp is black, and even after death, the color will not turn white immediately. Freshwater-cultured shrimps, however, will immediately turn white when they are fresh and just dead.

smell the shrimp: the shrimp cultured in seawater naturally has the salty smell of seawater, while the shrimp cultured in fresh water is not strong and has the earthy smell. This can be seen at a glance as long as you look at the water that vendors raise shrimp. The difference in taste between seawater shrimp and freshwater shrimp: the meat quality of shrimp cultured in seawater is firm, and it tastes fleshy after being cooked fresh. The meat of freshwater shrimp is not as tight as that of seawater shrimp, especially on the head.

4. Look at the whiskers and shrimp lines: the whiskers of seawater shrimp are thicker and shorter than those of fresh water, and the shrimp lines are cleaner. Shrimp lines cultured in fresh water are particularly dirty, and they are also thicker. Because there is more sediment in fresh water and the water quality is turbid, shrimp eat more, and the digestive organs will naturally be dirty.

Now is the season when a large number of cultured shrimps are on the market, and the price is not expensive. Now we usually sell about 3 kilos here. However, the general mariculture is raised and sold in the water, while the freshwater aquaculture is directly thrown on the chopping board for sale, and the survival time of freshwater should be longer than that of mariculture. This is easy to identify.