ery grounds of P. a. aztecus overlap those of P. 

 setifenis, the former are generally more saline than 

 those of the white shrimp. 



ENEMIES AND DISEASES 



Like Penaeiis in general, brown shrimp are prey 

 to many carnivorous teleost fishes (Gunter, 1945; 

 Knapp, 1950; Darnell, 1958). They are also in- 

 fested by a number of parasites (Sprague, 1950, 

 1954; Hutton, Sogandares-Bernal, Eldi-ed, Ingle, 

 and Woodburn, 1959 ; Kruse, 1959 ; Hutton et al., 

 1962). Aldrich (1965) reported that brown shrimp, 

 like white shrimp, serve as intermediate hosts for 

 Prochristianella penaei, a trypanorhynchan ces- 

 tode, which as an adult lives in the Atlantic sting- 

 ray, Dasyatis sahina. 



Commercial Importance 



P. a. aztecus is fished along the Atlantic Coast 

 of the United States from North Carolina to about 

 Cape Kennedy, Fla. In North Carolina it ranks 

 first among the three important commercial 

 Penmua found in the region, but farther south P. 

 setiferus is taken in larger quantities than is P. a. 

 aztecus (Anderson and Lunz, 1965; Lyles, 1967). 

 Along the northern Gulf of Mexico, brown shrimp 

 are taken commercially from Apalachicola, Fla., to 

 northeast Tamaulipas, Mexico. The largest catches 

 made in the region are along the Texas Coast. 

 Farther south in Mexican waters, brown shrimp 

 are caught from the southeasternmost end of Ta- 

 maulipas, along the coast of Veracruz, Tabasco, 

 and the southwestern part of the coast of Cam- 

 l^eche. The gi-ounds off the latter two States are 

 by far the most important. 



According to Lyles (1967), the brown shrimp 

 was the most valuable shrimp in the United States 

 in 1965, as it was from 1956 to 1963 (in 1964 white 

 shrimp landings exceeded those of brown shrimp). 

 In 1965, of a total landing of 99,890,237 kg. (whole 

 weight) of Penaeus slirimps, P. a. aztecus made up 

 49,264,265 kg. or about 49 percent of the landings. 



Penaeus (Melicertus) aztecus 

 subtilis P£rez Farfante 



Figures 51 to 59 



Nicaragua : camaron cafe. Venezuela : camaron 

 niaiTon, langostino amarillo. Guyana: short feel- 

 ered prawn. Brazil : camarao lixo, camarao ver- 

 melho, camarao branco. United States: brown 

 shrimp, dark shrimp. 



.546 



Penaeu-s 'brasiliensh : Eathbun, 1897: 46 [part]; 

 Rathbun, 1901 : 100, 101 [part] ; Pesta, 1915 : 113 

 [part] ; Burkenroad, 1934 : 92 [part] ; Schmitt, 

 1935 : 128, 129 [part.?] ; ?Magalhaes Filho, 1943 : 

 12-26, figs. 1-6. Not P. hrasUiensis Lat., 1817. 

 Penaeus hraziliensis : Moreira, 1901 : 6, 7, 72 [part]. 

 Penaeus aztecus: Burkenroad, 1939 [part "Form 

 B"] : 20, 27, 34-45, figs. 28, 29, 34; Anderson and 

 Lindner, 1945: 305 [part]; "\^niiteleather and 

 Brown, 1945: 25; Holtliuis, 1948: 1104, 1105; 

 Holthuis, 1950: 27; Sanchez Roig and Gomez do 

 la Maza, 1951: 113; Perez Farfante, 1953: 233, 

 234, 237 (238, 241 [part] ) ; Perez Farfante, 

 1954a: 97; Perez Farfante, 1954b: 29; Lindner, 

 1957: 11-15, 21, 22, 65, 153, 164, 162, 165; Lind- 

 ner, 1958: 33; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

 1958a: 11, 13; Bullis and Thompson, 1959a: 33- 

 35, 41 ; Bullis and Thompson, 1959b : 1, 6, 9 ; Hol- 

 thuis, 1959 : 42-44, 47, 63-67, fig. 6b: Eldred and 

 Hutton, 1960 : 91, 106, 108 ; Perez Farfante et al., 

 1961: 40, 48, 56, 57, 61, 64; Anonymous, 1962: 

 56; Miles, 1962: 189, 193; Bosclii, 1963: 26-29 

 [part], figs. 8 (3, left), 11; Davant, 1963: 9, 12, 

 18-20, 32, 34, 35, 68, 7';^76, 85-89, 91, figs. 6, 15, 

 16a, b, 17a, b, 18, and bis; Simpson, 1963 : 22, 23, 

 fig. 15 ; Boschi, 1964 : 39 (40, 41 [part] ) ; Ewald, 

 1964 : 10, 20-23 (24, 28, and tables [part] ) ; 

 Cen-igon, 1965: 21; Ewald, 1965a: 29; Ewald, 

 1965c: 52, 59, 65, 67, 70, 72, 74, 80, 82, 84-87, 91, 

 93-96, 114 (72, 80, 88-90, 92, 97-99, 113, fig. 13 

 [part]); Holthuis and Rosa, 1965: 4 [part]; 

 Pericchi Lopez, 1965 : 23 ; Simpson et al., 1965 : 

 77; Williams, 1965: 25, 26; Croker, 1967: 63, 68, 

 73, 74, 79-81, 84, 87, 95, 98, 105, 106; Instituto de 

 Fomento Nacional, 1967: 5, 8. 

 Penaeus a.stecus: Whiteleather and Brown, 1945: 



27. 

 Penaeus aztecus suht/lk Perez Farfante, 1967: 

 87-94, fig. 2a, b (holotype, s , USNM 119130, off 

 Gallinas Point, Departamento de la Guajira, 

 Colombia, 95 fm., October 9, 1965, Oregon Sta. 

 5685, lat. 12°29' N.; long. 71°54' W.) ' 

 Brown shrimp : Higman, 1959 : 8, 10, 12-14. 



Study Material 



For list of records see Perez Farfante, 1967. 



Diagnosis 



Adrostral sulcus relatively short, narrow pos- 

 teriorly, either tapering to a point or turning 

 laterally and broadening slightly at the end. Me- 

 dian sulcus short, ending well anterior to posterior 



U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



