page_title: Prawn
section_title: Shrimp versus prawn
hierarchical_section_title: Prawn / Shrimp versus prawn
caption_attribution_description: Macrobrachium carcinus&#160;(Linnaeus, 1758) English: Big-claw River Shrimp at Dominica, W.I. Studio (kitchen table) image. Français&#160;: Un Ouassou (Macrobrachium carcinus) pêché en dominique, et photographié sur une table de cuisine.
context_page_description: Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs, some of which can be eaten.
  The term prawn is used particularly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Commonwealth nations, for large swimming crustaceans or shrimp, especially those with commercial significance in the fishing industry. Shrimp that are present in this category often belong to the suborder Dendrobranchiata. In North America, the term is used less frequently, typically for freshwater shrimp. The terms shrimp and prawn themselves lack scientific standing. Over the years, the way shrimp and prawn are used has changed, and these days the terms are almost interchangeable.
context_section_description: The terms shrimp and prawn are common names, not scientific names. They are vernacular or colloquial terms which lack the formal definition of scientific terms. They are not taxa, but are terms of convenience with little circumscriptional significance. There is no reason to avoid using the terms shrimp or prawn when convenient, but it is important not to confuse them with the names or relationships of actual taxa.
  According to the crustacean taxonomist Tin-Yam Chan, "The terms shrimp and prawn have no definite reference to any known taxonomic groups. Although the term shrimp is sometimes applied to smaller species, while prawn is more often used for larger forms, there is no clear distinction between both terms and their usage is often confused or even reverse in different countries or regions." Writing in 1980, L. B. Holthuis noted that the terms prawn and shrimp were used inconsistently "even within a single region", generalising that larger species fished commercially were generally called shrimp in the United States, and prawns in other English-speaking countries, although not without exceptions.
  A lot of confusion surrounds the scope of the term shrimp. Part of the confusion originates with the association of smallness. That creates problems with shrimp-like species that are not small. The expression "jumbo shrimp" can be viewed as an oxymoron, a problem that doesn't exist with the commercial designation "jumbo prawns".
  The term shrimp originated around the 14th century with the Middle English shrimpe, akin to the Middle Low German schrempen, and meaning to contract or wrinkle; and the Old Norse skorpna, meaning to shrivel up, or skreppa, meaning a thin person. It is not clear where the term prawn originated, but early forms of the word surfaced in England in the early 15th century as prayne, praine and prane. According to the linguist Anatoly Liberman it is unclear how shrimp, in English, came to be associated with small. "No Germanic language associates the shrimp with its size... The same holds for Romance... it remains unclear in what circumstances the name was applied to the crustacean."
  Taxonomic studies in Europe on shrimp and prawns were shaped by the common shrimp and the common prawn, both found in huge numbers along the European coastlines. The common shrimp, Crangon crangon was categorised in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, and the common prawn was categorised in 1777 by Thomas Pennant. The common shrimp is a small burrowing species aligned with the notion of a shrimp as being something small, whereas the common prawn is much larger. The terms true shrimp or true prawn are sometimes used to mean what a particular person thinks is a shrimp or prawn. This varies with the person using the terms. But such terms are not normally used in the scientific literature, because the terms shrimp and prawn themselves lack scientific standing. Over the years the way shrimp and prawn are used has changed, and nowadays the terms are almost interchangeable. Although from time to time some biologists declare that certain common names should be confined to specific taxa, the popular use of these names seems to continue unchanged.
caption: A bigclaw river shrimp. Prawns are sometimes said to be large shrimp or alternatively freshwater shrimp, but this large, freshwater creature is a caridean shrimp, and is rarely referred to as a prawn.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image YCbCrSubSampling": "2", "Image DateTime": "2011:06:15 14:30:56", "Image ImageDescription": "Digital StillCamera", "Image Make": "CAMERA", "Image Model": "6MP-9J5", "Image Software": "PaintShop Pro 14,00", "Image Artist": "Hans Hillewaert", "Image Copyright": "b'\\xa9 Hans Hillewaert'", "Image InterColorProfile": "[]", "Image IPTC/NAA": "[28, 2, 0, 0, 0, 28, 2, 120, 0, 19, 68, 105, 103, 105, 116, 97, 108, 32, 83, 116, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "194", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4244", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3594", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2554", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1916", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:05:25 11:59:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:05:25 11:59:36", "EXIF SubSecTime": "0", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "0", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "0", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/120", "EXIF FNumber": "24/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "689/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "31/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Hard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "1"}