Morphological Characteristics, Living Habits, and Key Aquaculture Techniques of the freshwater shrimp

The freshwater shrimp, scientific name Macrobrachium nipponense, commonly known as the river shrimp, is a common freshwater economic shrimp species in China, widely distributed in rivers, lakes, ponds, and other waters. Its body color is greenish and transparent, which is how it got the name freshwater shrimp. Its flesh is tender and delicious, and it is rich in nutrients, making it a very popular aquatic product on the market.

The freshwater shrimp has a slender body, with a relatively thick head and thorax, serrated upper edge of the rostrum, and a particularly well-developed second pair of walking legs. Its body surface is mostly bluish-gray or greenish-green, and the body color varies slightly with water quality and habitat environment. It likes to inhabit shallow water areas with lush aquatic plants and slow currents. During the day it mostly hides among aquatic plants or rock crevices, and at night it comes out to move and feed. It is omnivorous, feeding on algae, aquatic insects, organic debris, and so on.

In terms of aquaculture, the freshwater shrimp has strong adaptability, grows relatively quickly, and has a short farming cycle. It can be cultured alone, or mixed with river crabs and fish, and is also suitable for various models such as rice-field culture and cage culture. During the farming process, water quality should be kept fresh, aquatic plants should be planted appropriately to provide habitat and molting sites for the freshwater shrimp, and scientific feeding and daily management should be carried out well.

It should be noted that the freshwater shrimp has weak tolerance to low oxygen, and is prone to surfacing for air when the weather is hot and humid or water quality deteriorates, so oxygen should be increased and water changed in a timely manner. In production, the method of catching the large and leaving the small, and rotational catching and stocking is often adopted, so that commercial shrimp can be marketed in a balanced way, which helps improve farming efficiency.