White Shrimp: The Fruit of the Sea

Nutrition

     For the first 1-2 days of life the newly hatched larvae shrimp feed on the yolk of the egg.  Since the larvae shrimp do not walk along the bottom of the water as the adults do they feed mostly on very small floating plants and plankton they find while swimming.  Once the post-larvae shrimp reach an estuary, or a region of very low salinity, the appendages are transformed for walking instead of swimming.  Here the adult shrimp feast on worms, plant debris, mollusks, and even other small crustaceans.  Shrimp do eat other shrimp, they are cannibals.  Shrimp feed mostly on these organisms because they share a habitat.