# Giant Cannibal Tiger Shrimp



## Gonzo (Sep 17, 2010)

Thought this article might be of interest...that is one big _ss shrimp!!

*Giant Cannibal Shrimp Worry Gulf Coast Watchers*

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the Gulf of Mexico, a new menace, this one striped like a big cat, is preying on aquatic life: The black tiger shrimp.
The biggest saltwater shrimp in the world, black tigers “are cannibalistic as are other shrimp but it’s larger so it can consume the others,” Tony Reisinger, country extension agent for the Texas Sea Grant Extension Service, told CNN on Friday.
Because of the threat of disease, the predatory intruder poses a problem for the native shrimp and oyster population of the Gulf, Reisinger said.
"Our oystermen right now are hurting because the oyster season is shut down due to a red tide. But this (black tiger) shrimp poses other concerns,” he said.
Appearing more than 25 years ago, the black tiger’s sudden reappearance is a mystery.
“The first time they started appearing was in the late 1980s on the East Coast,” he said. “Then they disappeared in 1991.”
But following the record-breaking hurricane season of 2005, which brought successive monster storms Katrina, Rita and Wilma, they started showing up again, he said.
“They’re well over 1,000 of them in the Gulf of Mexico now,” he said. “We’ve had five of them caught off Texas.”
Reisinger said he spoke to the Brownsville-Port Isabel Shrimp Producers Association recently to warn them about the shrimp but he was too late.
“It turns our fishermen have been catching them for a while, but they didn’t think they were marketable so they were throwing them back,” he said.
Is there a harvestable population already established in the Gulf? What does that mean for the Louisiana and South Texas shrimp and oyster industry? Many questions remain, Reisinger said.​


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## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

OOOOOO.....grilling size!:chef:


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## drifterfisher (Oct 9, 2009)

Those look like good red fish bait....


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## Skullkracker (Aug 21, 2009)

Firefishvideo said:


> OOOOOO.....grilling size!:chef:



are these shrimp even edible? i have seen several reports about these being in the gulf but none of them mention if they are edible


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## TheRoguePirate (Nov 3, 2011)

I think i had them for dinner in asia a few times. If I remember corretly, they were mighty tasty!

TRP


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## samoajoe (Dec 28, 2010)

I was under the impression that the mantis shrimp was the biggest shrimp out there. Still a problem if this species does serious harm to established populations of local shrimp.


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## flappininthebreeze (Jul 13, 2009)

*Marketable shrimp??*

How can a 12 inch shrimp not be marketable?? I've seen, and eaten, these in Vietnam. Oh man, a plateful of these, mmmmmm. I want to know where they hide, it'll be like lobstering, only better.


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## aroundthehorn (Aug 29, 2010)

flappininthebreeze said:


> How can a 12 inch shrimp not be marketable?? I've seen, and eaten, these in Vietnam. Oh man, a plateful of these, mmmmmm. I want to know where they hide, it'll be like lobstering, only better.


The problem is that they aren't caught often and if they were, the local, native shrimp population would likely have already been decimated.


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## Burnt Drag (Jun 3, 2008)

There's always some new boogie man turning up. I'll bet some of our 20+ lb. Red Snapper are feasting on them as I type this.


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## TailRazor (Apr 25, 2011)

I agree with drifter, what better way to off em then to use em as bait.


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## coolbluestreak (Jun 27, 2011)

TailRazor said:


> I agree with drifter, what better way to off em then to use em as bait.


Yeah, you'd be helping out the GOM by teaching fish to eat them! :thumbup:


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## Burnt Drag (Jun 3, 2008)

I think fish are pre-programed to munch out on creatures like that. A jewfish would slurp up one of those like a snickers bar.


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## TURTLE (May 22, 2008)

*That is one big Ass shrimp. I wish I would find a buch of them.:yes:*


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## knowphish (Apr 26, 2010)

A big shrimp, that eats little shrimp............................that's got to be tasty!!!!!!!!!!


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## goheel (Feb 3, 2011)

yep, they're huge. I took a pic of one when I was in Malaysia


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## Baitcaster (Oct 4, 2007)

Burnt Drag said:


> I think fish are pre-programed to munch out on creatures like that. A jewfish would slurp up one of those like a snickers bar.


lol I pictured one of those "you not the same when you're hungry" commercials .


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## Cola Boy (Mar 26, 2011)

YUMMY!!! Pan-size shrimp, someone get the Old Bay.


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## BuckWild (Oct 2, 2007)

I stopped in Willingham seafood in Valparaiso yesterday to grab some bay shrimp, and they had 2 of these on ice that they had caught the couple nights before in choctawhatchee bay. let me tell you, those things are huge. they were saving them for an FWC biologist to pick up. Said they have pulled in about 12 over the last 2 months.


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