Posted on 01/02/2012 11:20:36 AM PST by george76
The giant Black Tiger shrimp that Ron Pockrus caught off the Texas coast might be the biggest threat to the $700 million Gulf shrimp industry to come along in years, marine biologists said.
Pockrus, the owner of a 13-vessel shrimp fleet operating out of Brownsville, caught the 12-inch, 13-ounce specimen last week.
Pockrus said he’s been aware of the species for about three years but hadn’t seen one. Now, he has turned in two to marine and wildlife officials this season.
“I have another boat coming in with one on it now,” Pockrus said. “That makes the third one we’ve picked up.”
The Black Tiger shrimp is indigenous to the eastern coast of Africa. Its ranges to the Indo-Pacific region and south to Australia.
Black Tigers can grow to 13 inches and weigh as much as a pound
(Excerpt) Read more at galvestondailynews.com ...
On the plus side, they’re tasty.
You’re gonna need a bigger barbie...
If they taste good what’s the problem?
Can you eat ‘em?
Boy! The term shrimp is losing its meaning of very small.
I worked in the (inland) seafood business for a couple of years.
Tiger shrimp were and are the shrimp equivalent of trash fish but unscrupulous restauranteurs and gullible diners made tiger shrimp popular simply because the stripes made them seem exotic, I suppose.
The best shrimp is a nice pink specimen, preferably from Ecuador.
I don’t understand what the problem is with these black shrimp. Aren’t they edible? Are they on an endangered list?
If they’re predators, wouldn’t it make sense to try to catch as many as possible and eat them? Preserving them for a lab is a waste of food.
From the sound of it they will be the next tilapia.
If you season them and bread them and fry them enough people will eat em and think they’re great.
I could go for a few boiled up right now!
a Shrump?
I have eaten & enjoyed tiger shrimp
Of late I have been buying shrimp farm raised in se asiA
They are frozen cleaned and never have that iodine taste that sometimes comes with wild caught shrimp
"The problem, said Tony Reisinger, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent for coastal and marine resources in South Texas, is the Black Tiger is extremely destructive toward native species and could have disastrous effects on the Gulf shrimp ecosystem. “We are studying them now, and we think they have the ability to take over the feeding grounds and habitats of our native species,” Reisinger said. “They are very aggressive, and when their food source is extinguished, they feed off smaller shrimp and oysters as well.”
“I could go for a few boiled up right now!”
Never, ever, EVER boil a shrimp. Peel ‘em, toss ‘em with a little fresh lime juice and “Old Bay”, lay ‘em out in a single layer on a rectangular cooking sheet (with sides) and broil ‘em 3” from the top oven element (broiler temp set to high) for 3 minutes, 3 minutes only. Best you’ll ever eat.
Boiling just washes/leaches away the flavor that is poured down the drain.
“Pockrus said he didn’t know if the giant Black Tiger shrimp might someday replace the indigenous Gulf shrimp as a cash crop for fishermen.
“Maybe they could — I’m not sure what to think,” Pockrus said. “All I know is I believe they have the potential to forever change (the shrimp fishing industry) in the Gulf.””
Seems to me if they taste the same or better than the native species, who cares if the native species goes extinct?
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