Young NC Citizen Scientist Donates Valuable Specimen to Museum of Natural Sciences

Here's a great story that proves how valuable the observations of citizen scientists and environmentally-minded individuals can be. This specimen will help scientists study and track this invasive species of shrimp, which has ecological and economic importance as this non-native could have negative impacts on native shrimp populations. Thanks to Dr. Bronwyn Williams, Research Curator of Crustaceans at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, for sharing this story and allowing us to use the text and photos. 

 Last Friday (7/31/2015), the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences Crustacean Collection received an exciting and important donation: an Asian tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon. The donation was made by Jimmy Epps, who caught the shrimp in autumn 2014 in his casting net in Bogue Sound, Carteret Co., NC. Jimmy officially recorded his catch via the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database.

The specimen is a rare red-striped morph, which, in combination with its fantastic provenance data, is an invaluable addition to the Collection as it provides critical data for conservation efforts, and will undoubtedly play an important role in education and outreach about invasive species at and beyond the Museum. 

The Asian tiger shrimp is native to tropical marine habitats of the Indo-West Pacific, but as a staple of global aqua-farming beginning in the late 1960s, has been widely introduced beyond the bounds of its native range. The species was first reported from coastal waters of the southeastern U.S. in

1988 following the escape of ~2,000 shrimp from a SC aquaculture facility. Hundreds of Asian tiger shrimp were captured in trawl nets during the first couple of months post-escape. Interestingly, the species subsequently went unreported from coastal U.S. waters for an 18 year stretch, resurfacing off the Gulf coast of Alabama in 2006. Reports since the 2006 Alabama sighting indicate that the Asian tiger shrimp has spread extensively along southeastern and Gulf coasts of the U.S., from North Carolina to Texas (http://www.wsj.com/news/interactive/SHRIMP0907).