PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE 
COMMON SHRIMP PENAEUS SETIFERUS (LINN.) 
By F. W. Weymotjtii, Ph.D., Milton J. Lindner, and W. W. Anderson, United States Bureau 
of Fisheries 
J- 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 1 
Production and value of shrimp 2 
Previous work on life history 6 
Life history 8 
Nature of data 8 
Interpretation of data 9 
Recognition of age groups 9 
Spawning 11 
Sex-ratio 14 
Larvae 15 
Life history- — Continued Page 
Interpretation — Continued 
Young 15 
Growth 18 
Fate of adults 19 
Habits 21 
Depletion and protection 22 
Summary 23 
Bibliography 25 
INTRODUCTION 
Tlie present report is concerned with the salient features of the life history of 
the common or so-called "lake shrimp” ( Penaeus setiferus) of the South Atlantic and 
Gulf coasts and the bearing of these facts on the problems of the shrimp industry. 
The information has been obtained in the carrying out of a program of cooperative 
shrimp investigation in which the Bureau of Fisheries has been supported by the 
States of Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas. The loyalty and industry of the staff and 
of our associates have made possible the substantial results here recorded and the 
members deserve the particularized credit for which our space is too limited . 1 
Although the study is far from complete, it seems best to place the information 
obtained on record, in part because it is the most complete life history available for 
any species of shrimp and in part to give the purposes and needs of the investigational 
program. 
A brief statement will first be given of the extent and importance of the shrimp 
fishery in the United States, and next the state of knowledge at the beginning of the 
present work; then the life history of Penaeus setiferus will be outlined very briefly, 
after which the evidence from which these facts were drawn will be given in such 
detail as is now possible (this will constitute the great bulk of the paper) ; and finally, 
the bearing of this information upon the problems of depletion and protection will be 
discussed briefly. 
1 The staff of the shrimp investigations includes F. W. Weymouth, Milton J. Lindner, and Gordon Gunter with headquarters 
in New Orleans, La., W. W. Anderson at Brunswick, Ga., J. S. Gutsell at Beaufort, N.C., and Kenneth H. Mosher at Aransas 
Pass, Tex. J. N. Gowanloeh and Forrest Durand, of the Bureau of Research and Statistics of the Louisiana Department of Con- 
servation, have been so closely associated in the cooperative program as scarcely to be differentiated from the staff members. We 
gladly acknowledge the aid of Dr. Waldo Schmitt, TJ.S. National Museum, in the identification of material; and of Dr. R. Von 
Ihering, of the Instituto Biologico, for information concerning the shrimp fishery of Sao Paulo, Brazil. W'e are also greatly indebted 
to many men in the shrimp industry, in particular to the late John Dymond, Jr., former president of the Southern Canners 
Exchange; R. R. Rice, of Aransas Pass, Tex., and Senator Jules Fisher, of New Orleans, La., who have aided in the collection of data 
and have placed at our disposal their records for statistical analysis. Approved for publication. Mar. 22, 1933. 
i 
