How Do Shrimp Reproduce? A Detailed Explanation of Shrimp Breeding Methods

There are quite a lot of people who like to eat shrimp, and everyone is probably no stranger to shrimp. But while you may know how to cook them, you may not know how shrimp grow, for example, how do shrimp reproduce? Let's take a look together!

How Do Shrimp Reproduce

1. Broodstock cultivation

Select 100 pairs of shrimp with a male-to-female ratio of 1:1 as broodstock. After selection, the broodstock are raised in a 6×8×1 m concrete tank covered with fiberglass corrugated sheets and equipped with a heating system, and are fed daily with freshly chopped “lobster” heads at 10% of the shrimp body weight in the tank. The redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) has a bright red color on the outer front part, and its claws are longer than its body; the claws of female shrimp are basically blue and shorter than the body. The genital papilla of mature male shrimp is located at the base of the fifth walking leg and is clearly rod-shaped; the genital pore of female shrimp opens at the base of the third walking leg. Place some washed and disinfected mesh sheets in the broodstock tank as shelter for the broodstock, siphon out waste and change the water daily, and maintain a photoperiod of 12L:12D (12 hours light, 12 hours dark).

2. Mating and spawning

In late April, the broodstock begin to mate and spawn. Mating in redclaw crayfish is soft-shell mating; before mating, the female shrimp must undergo a reproductive molt, and within 12 hours after the male produces sperm, the female shrimp begins to spawn. After fertilization, the eggs produced by the female shrimp are dark yellow and adhere to the pleopods and the empty space formed by the inward curling of the tail fan. A berried shrimp weighing 48 grams carries 326 eggs; a shrimp with a high egg count carried as many as 441 eggs, while the lowest was only 27 eggs.

3. Embryonic development

The fertilized eggs of redclaw crayfish are dark yellow, and gradually change to yellow-orange, red-orange, and light gray as the embryo develops. Dividing the berried shrimp into 4 groups for comparative embryonic development experiments revealed that: at 19℃, the embryonic development of redclaw crayfish eggs is extremely slow; at 21—23℃, the time to hatch out of the membrane is 41 days, and at 80 days the juvenile shrimp leave the mother; at 26℃, the fertilized eggs hatch out of the membrane in 30 days, and the juvenile shrimp leave the mother at 52 days; at 29—30℃, they hatch out of the membrane in 25 days and leave the mother at 40 days.

4. Larval rearing

After the redclaw crayfish larvae are hatched and collected, they are placed in earthen ponds for rearing. In the early growth stage, the larvae mainly feed on organic debris and unicellular algae such as Chlorella. Whether organic debris and unicellular algae are abundant in the water body is crucial to improving the survival rate of redclaw crayfish larvae; if the amount of food is insufficient, cannibalism will occur. Dissection of juvenile shrimp revealed that there were basically no remains of zooplankton such as cladocerans and copepods in the intestines and stomachs of the juvenile shrimp, which is mainly because the juvenile shrimp have poor mobility and it is not easy for them to obtain zooplankton. After 7 weeks of rearing, the average size of the larvae can reach 7.6 cm.

That is where Tuliu.com has summarized and organized the question of how shrimp reproduce for you today. We hope this article is helpful to you.