Chilli shrimp belongs to the commercial species of crustaceans and is caught in the Far East. Her meat is a very healthy dietary product.
Biological description
Chili shrimp (lat. Pandalus latirostris Rathbun) is a member of the Pandalidae family, belongs to the order of decapod crayfish, lives in the coastal waters of the Far Eastern region. This species tastes great, the length of an adult can reach 16 cm in length with a mass of 23 g. The average size is 10-14 cm with a weight of 16 g. The life cycle of a shrimp lasts up to 6 years.
Chillim family - well-floating crustaceans that live in thickets of marine plants and algae, among sponges and hydroids. They are divided into 2 types:
- Herbal - larger individuals, sometimes growing 18 cm, they have a greenish color with longitudinal transverse stripes, which helps to hide among the algae, as can be seen in the photo of the chili shrimp. The depth of habitat is up to 30 m. The stalked eyes in any danger can hide in the eye sockets. They feed on young shoots of algae and small mollusks, as well as crustaceans.
- Northern chillim has a bright pink color and lives in the north of the Far East and in the North Atlantic, which scientists associate with the rupture of the preglacial range in comparison with the modern one. The depth of habitat can reach up to 500 m, it belongs to valuable commercial species.
The main diet of chillim is algae and small crustaceans, which shrimps get themselves, constantly moving in sea water. Larvae are very small in size, feed on plankton, gradually increasing mass and passing through several stages of molting, until they become adults.
The period of mass emergence of larvae falls in mid-May, then in June the females begin to lay new eggs, from which many small chillim subsequently hatched. The most favorable living conditions - at a negative temperature of about -0.5 º.
Northern and grass species, although they occupy a single ecological niche, however, they differ in terms of habitat, duration and intensity of maturation of larvae and spawning period.
Interesting facts about chillim
Chilli shrimp has an original feature, expressed in the ability to hermaphroditism: at first it is a male, and when it reaches the age of 2 years it turns into a female, which actively lays eggs for the rest of its life.
Another feature of shrimp is periodic molting, during which they discard the old smaller shell and remain in a new, larger size. Northern shrimp species do this less frequently than the inhabitants of the southern seas.
Habitats and prey
The distribution area of the northern chillim is Peter the Great Bay, the southwestern part of Sakhalin Island, Terpeniya, Aniva Bays, and the southern Kuril Islands. Southerly found to the Japanese islands (Nagasaki and Chemulpo). Herbal chilli - the most popular commercial species of shrimp, is now under state protection.
Chilim lives in the northwestern part of the Bering Sea. Here, during fishing, you can catch 1 ton of shrimp in 30 minutes. Due to temperature fluctuations in different years, shrimp do not pass into the Anadyr Bay in the spring months , but begin spawning near Cape Navarin in the southern region of the bay.
Chillim shrimp fishing is carried out only during the period when spawning has ended and the young generation has grown. According to the laws of the Russian Federation, amateur fishing of shrimp is prohibited in territorial waters from May 20 to August 1, when spawning and development of larvae take place.
Shrimp fishing
Amateur fishermen most often catch shrimp using a "quiet" hunt using homemade or prepared traps. A massive influx of chillim happens in certain periods: in spring in May and in autumn in September-October. Later, shrimp often go deep.
Chillim shrimp traps consist of a rigid frame on which a grid is pulled that has several inlets. The bottom is weighted, and a plastic bottle is attached on top, which holds the entire structure in the required vertical position. The device is placed in shallow water, to indicate the place a float is attached, clearly visible from afar.
As a bait, rotten or spoiled fish is ideally suited, the smell of which is very popular with chillim. However, because of this, then all hands will stink of rotten meat.
The best time to set traps is evening, because it is at night that chillim go out to feed and smell easily fall into traps. In the early morning, at dawn, the shrimp crop needs to be harvested before it is scattered.
Some lovers get shrimps using long-netted nets, but this way you can only catch lunch for your table.
Resettlement experiments
In the 1960s, experimental studies were conducted to relocate chilli shrimp to the Black Sea, during which its sensitivity to salinity, temperature characteristics and oxygen content in seawater was carefully studied. The young were obtained quite successfully, however, at the larval stage, almost all the shrimp died.
Then, in the late 70s, attempts were made to grow juveniles under artificial conditions, but the experiments were suspended. Although in the world aquaculture the cultivation of many species of freshwater and sea shrimp has long been put on an industrial basis and in large volumes.
Nowadays, specialized farms and firms are engaged in catching chillim, which, according to the developed technologies, freeze and deliver shrimp meat to consumers while preserving all the useful components of this product.
Cooking Application
Chili shrimp is a low-calorie seafood that is often used in diet foods. Like all Far Eastern species, it is considered the most delicious and healthy. Its meat contains a large number of useful vitamins and minerals: iodine, protein, mineral salts, potassium, calcium, zinc, protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids.
It is due to these components that shrimp are useful and should be included in the diet of any person. Such a dietary product is especially recommended for cancer patients, asthmatics and people suffering from other respiratory diseases, as well as those who have rheumatoid arthritis and other joint diseases.
Compared to other seafood, shrimp contains more cholesterol, but it is much less in them than in liver, chicken eggs or fish oil.
Contraindication is only individual intolerance to shrimp meat.
In countries where shrimp are traditional dishes, the incidence of cardiovascular ailments is much lower compared to many European countries.