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The BCF Biological Laboratory, Galveston, established in 1950, 

 is today the center of Federal research on Gulf of Mexico shrimp 



shrimp crops; develop methods for rearino shrimp com- 

 mercially; understand the physiological requirements 

 of larval, juvenile, and adult shrimp; e\'aluate natural 

 and altered shrimp nursery grounds in estuaries; and 

 determine the oceanographic and bottom factors that 

 affect the survival of shrimp. Eggs of the commercially 

 important brown, white, and pink shrimp have been 

 successfully hatched at the Galveston Laboratory and 

 thousands of young reared through the larval stages. 

 Although the initial purpose for rearing shrimp was to 

 identify the young, the techniques that are being de- 

 veloped can be applied toward commercial shrimp 

 farming in the United States. 



From studies on the early life history of penaeid 

 shrimp in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and off 

 Florida, information has been obtained on the abun- 



