If you are a seafood lover you certainly like to eat shrimp… or you like to eat prawn. There might be a lot of confusion going on in your head right now due to how interchangeable these two terms can be, and how everyone pretty much uses them all the time like they know the exact difference between shrimp and prawn.
Chances are, you are probably incredibly confused with these two terms and you would certainly like to know the difference, so that you can tell witch one you actually like to eat the most, and which one you like to eat less. If that is the case, don’t worry, we’re here to tell you a little bit about these two and the difference between them.
Are Shrimps and Prawns Different?
First off, you know to know that these two terms are incredibly interchangeable and that, unless you are studying these two deeply, it makes no sense for you to fully understand the difference between them since it is pretty confusing and most people actually have no idea about the differences as well. It’s not a surprise at all to know that people keep on using the term prawn and shrimp over and over again interchangeably, since these two do have a lot of things in common.
Both prawns and shrimps are crustaceans, they both can be found living in fresh and in salt water in the same areas, and near the floor trying to get some food. On top of that, they both have 10 legs. They are, in fact, different animals in biological terms, but it is kind of hard to tell them apart.
A lot of people believe that you can tell them apart by the size. According to these people, prawns are pretty big, and shrimp are smaller. This isn’t true at all. If you look hard enough, you can find some species of shrimp that are larger than most prawn species, and you can find a lot of prawn species that are smaller than most species of shrimp. As such, we can pretty much rule out size as a way to tell them apart.
As if that wasn’t confusing enough, we’ve got more for you. According to the biological terms, it is possible to find some species of shrimp that should actually be prawns, and it is possible to find species of prawns that should, in fact, be shrimp. This is what happens with the spot prawns, and what happens with the ridgeback shrimp.
The simplest and easiest way to tell them apart goes like this. Shrimp have branching gills, and they usually carry their eggs outside their bodies near the tail in order to protect them and guarantee the independence and the survival of their own species (not when it comes to the term, however). On top of that, some of their plates overlay each other in segments, starting from the front and into the back.
Prawns, on the other hand, carry their eggs inside of their bodies (a much better strategy, if you ask me) and have lamellar gills, with side plats that overlap each other from the front into the back. Regarding what they eat and their living habits, these species are pretty much alike.
By now you are probably thinking that these differences are incredibly fascinating and that they must be studied in a deep way so that we can understand how these differences came to be, how they evolved and so on… that is, of course, if you are a marine biologist specializing in crustaceans.
If you are not a marine biologist specializing in crustaceans, you probably think that those differences are completely irrelevant and that anyone that actually tries to tell the difference between a shrimp and a prawn in front of you should, from now on, show them their college diploma telling you they are specialized in this type of stuff.
For a cook and for the normal person, these differences are completely irrelevant, and the differences that do matter can be found only in specific species. These vary in flavor and texture, and can be used in different types of recipes because of this. If you are able to master different species, you are going to be able to make amazing recipes, without having to worry about the insignificant differences that shrimp and prawn have.
For example, Penaeus monodon is a crustacean that can be considered both a prawn and a shrimp (Giant tiger prawn, and Asian tiger shrimp) but it is, however, used in a wide variety of recipes, and it has a unique flavor and texture attached to it, as well a combining size. It is used throughout the world and even in high rated hotels, so you can tell from here that the differences are irrelevant.
To summarize it, shrimps and prawns are actually not the same thing, but their differences are so subtle that the common person shouldn’t have any type of motive to care about the differences that there are between them, especially in the kitchen. The differences only come into play when we look at specific units in the species, since that is the only place where we can find differences in flavor and in texture in order to complement our recipes in the best possible way. If you are looking to buy shrimp or prawn, try to aim for specific species instead of trying to differentiate between these two.