Study of the Bay Populations of Juvenile Shrimp, Penaeus aztecus and Penaeus setiferus
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Bimonthly sampling of juvenile shrimp in the Texas Bays suggests that there were three waves of both the brown, P. aztecus, and white, P. setiferus, species. The first and most numerous group of brown shrimp first appeared in our May samples while the first and most numerous group of white shrimp appeared in mid-June. The period of most rapid growth was during the summer when the average growth for brown shrimp in Galveston Bay was 1.5 mm per day. The average for white shrimp during the same period was 1.1 mm per day. Spring and fall growth rates were lower. White shrimp grew to a greater size, leaving the bays at 120 mm. Brown shrimp left before reaching 100 mm. In some shallow, tertiary bays and bayous shrimp do not reach the proper size for harvest. Gulf sampling in daylight hours revealed that small brown shrimp so outnumber the few, larger white shrimp that harvest would be wasteful during the three summer months.