Pinks and humpies are the smallest of the commercial pandalids. Coonstripes are very robust, have large heads, and have a series of dark bands on both legs and body. The sidestripe is relatively slender with characteristic long antennules. A light pink in color, sidestripes earn their title by the presence of white bands that run the length of the abdomen. Both coonstripes and sidestripes are medium in size.
Spot shrimp are large and stout and are light brown to orange in color.
For example, a pink shrimp will typically mature sexually as a male, spawn one or more times, pass through a short transitional phase and subsequently mature and spawn as a female. In the spring, after about a six month incubation, the eggs hatch into planktonic, free-swimming larvae. By mid-summer, the larvae have undergone several molts, rapidly increasing in size after each molt. After the last larval molt the shrimp is now a juvenile and settles to the bottom. After a year or so, the juvenile molts and develops into a mature male and may spawn as a male for one or two seasons.