PENAEUS VANNAMEI CULTURED

Fattening

Growth and fattening imply a periodical skin sloughing by the shrimp. Approximately every two weeks (depending on size) the shrimp’s shell gets too small so the animal completely sloughs its shell to allow a new and bigger shell to appear.

The skin sloughing process takes about 6 hours. During this time the shrimp usually hides at the bottom of the pool and covers itself with a light layer of sand to protect its skin from predators (usually of its own species).

When the animal reaches 25 g in weight and hasn’t already been fished, it is ready to be selected as a breeder and the process starts over.

A shrimp has a life span of approximately 2 years.