One of my favorite places to eat in San Francisco is Swan Oyster Depot. I usually go for the combination seafood salad, which is a mixture of delectable Dungeness crab, shrimp, and prawns served on lettuce with a Louis dressing. The shrimp in this salad are very tiny, like the type you would use in a shrimp salad, and the prawns are shrimp-like, but much larger.
I always thought "prawn" was the British English word for the animal that Americans call a "shrimp," and although that is the case, there is also actually a scientific difference between a shrimp and a prawn.
While very similar in appearance, shrimp and prawns are two different species, with different gill structures, different habitats, and a difference in taste.
Shrimp come from both fresh and salt water and can live in both cold and warm waters; if they came from cold waters, then they will be smaller in size. There are more saltwater than freshwater species of shrimp.
Prawns come from fresh water, and are much larger and meatier than shrimp, like a langoustine. Their meat is much sweeter than those of shrimp. Prawns also have bigger pincers and longer legs.
And there you have it!
Related:
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(Image: Legal Seafoods)
so are crayfish considered part of the prawn family?
view mikeinbrooklyn's profile
If I'm allergic to shrimp (I am) will I also be allergic to prawns?
view Mister Mau's profile
@Mister Mau Yes
view Kathryn Hill's profile
I love them no matter what they're called.
view hobsy's profile
Fascinating! Thanks!
Emily
view Emily Sneds's profile
Thank you for the verification of this fact! In Australia, we were always so disappointed when we'd ordered prawn dishes (envisioning large prawns), and received what we know as shrimp (much smaller) instead...
view chow.baby's profile
"The shrimp in this salad are very tiny, like the type you would use in a shrimp salad, and the prawns are shrimp-like, but much larger."
Yep, that's what I call them too. Shrimp are many in a mouthful, prawns are bigger - you can skewer and grill.
view buda's profile
Ummm... Spotted prawns are fished in the Pacific Ocean. I've never heard of freshwater prawns before--just freshwater shrimp. (Not that it's easy to find info with everyone using shrimp and prawns interchangeably.) http://www.shim.bc.ca/species/prawn.htm
Hubby has a prawn fisherman friend (yes, you can be jealous--I do get the occasional bag of free prawns) who gets irritated when you call what he catches shrimp. Sadly, hubby's allergic to prawns, shrimp and lobster (and stays away from crab, just in case).
view muse2323's profile
Huh. I may have to take back that last comment. Maybe my husband's friend is wrong. Or maybe Wikipedia is.
Not that it really matters. They're just plain yummy either way.
view muse2323's profile