Shrimp

True shrimp are small, swimming, decapod crustaceans usually classified in the suborder Natantia, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water.

Shrimp are structurally similar to lobsters and crayfish, but they lack enlarged pincers and are flattened laterally instead of horizontally. The animals are usually transparent or are green or brown in color. They have thick-muscled abdomens, which they contract rapidly in making their sudden, backward-swimming escapes. (The shrimp meat served in numerous dishes, an important product of the fishing industry, is the curved muscle extracted from the abdomen.) The animals have eight pairs of appendages on the thorax: the front three, called maxillipeds, are mouthparts used for feeding; the rear five, called pereipods, are used for walking. The abdomen contains five pairs of swimming legs, called pleopods, and a fanlike tail.