Fishermen find foot-long shrimp in their nets – News – The Daily News

Asian tiger shrimp are not necessarily a new commodity to the area, with sightings recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in eight North Carolina watersheds.

An invasive species, the shrimp are native to East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Australia.

They appear different from shrimp native to the area, with their rusty brown color and black-and-white banding across their tail. Sometimes, the stripe appears as a reddish-orange stripe, stated USGS.

And their size is typically larger than the white shrimp harvested by local fishermen — tiger shrimp can reach up to 30 cm, or 11.8 inches, almost a foot long.

But, their appearance is making waves on social media for some fishermen in the area.

Spotted in Eastern North Carolina, including the Cape Fear River, Neuse River, White Oak River, New River and Pamlico Sound, fishermen have been catching the shellfish and serving them up.

John Mallette, a fisherman from Sneads Ferry, wrote in a message to The Daily News that he’s seen more of the striped species while shrimping lately, but they are not plentiful.

“I probably catch six or eight (tiger) shrimp for every 6,000 pounds of regular white shrimp,” Mallette wrote.

But, he said the rare catch makes for a yummy dinner — which can be split like a butterfly and cooked like a lobster.

“They’re delicious,” Mallette wrote. “We eat them all the time… I butterfly (them), pan fry, and toss in teriyaki sauce like a chicken wing.”

Mallette posted a photo of the giant shrimp — which nearly matched the size of his hand — and garnered over 100 shares on Facebook.

Kathy Mathis, formerly of Carteret County, was one of the people who shared the post to a Sneads Ferry group.

“They’re the most giant shrimp I’ve ever seen and I was a seafood dealer in Carteret for 10-15 years,” Mathis said.

Now a resident of New Smyrna Beach, Mathis said she thinks the tiger shrimp are like the Lionfish that started invading coastal waters about 10 years ago. She said when the fish showed up on her husband’s boat, he took them to the Marine fisheries division in Morehead City, where experts said the species had never been in the area before.

“It’s global warming I would say, the water’s getting warmer the current’s getting stronger,” Mathis said.