It's life, deal with it.

A prawn is sometimes called a prawn and a shrimp is called a prawn and a shrimp.

Confused, anyone? So was I!

I was out with my mom yesterday, for brunch, and I came across the word "udang" in the menu. A lot of you may know that I am, in fact, allergic to "udangs". So I was minding my own business staring at the menu when I suddenly pondered on what the English term for "udang" is. Was it Prawn or Shrimp? Then it hit me, what's prawn and what's shrimp?? Aren't they the same?

Well, I've heard many say that shrimps are smaller whereas prawns are bigger. I suppose they abstracted this information from the existence of King Prawns and Tiger Prawns - both of which are mega huge suborders of the prawn family. Ever heard of Emperor Shrimp or King Shrimp? No... the word shrimp itself plants an image of a puny beady eyed creature in your mind, doesn't it?


Let's start with, WHAT?!

Both prawns and shrimp are crustaceans! Meaning to say, they're related to crabs. dun dun dun, tell us something we don't know...pftt


However, prawns and shrimps belong to the Decapoda order. The term "decapod" means "10-legged", so this group also includes lobsters! Let's kick out crabs and lobsters from this topic now, to avoid further confusion, shall we?

Prawns and shrimps are members of different suborders (groups): Prawns belong to the Dendrobranchiata suborder, and shrimp to the Pleocyemata.

I know... what in Bluebeard's name are those ahjkahfkjh words and how do they explain their difference?! Primarily, the most significant difference is the gill structure. Shrimp have branching gills, while prawns have lameller gills with a platelike structure.


Another feature that can help distinguish them is that the front pincers of shrimp are typically the largest, while prawns have bigger second pincers. Prawns also have longer legs than shrimp. Prawns are similar to lobster, as they have two pairs of small pincers but due to the fact that they are similar in size to shrimps, they are sometimes confused with them :O

That's pretty much it, actually.
I can't believe I researched about marine creatures that I'm allergic to all because I couldn't help thinking about their difference. I suppose, I'm one of those people who've got curiosity that needs to be satisfied and knowledge that demands answers no matter how insignificant the facts are :/ heh. Well, I wouldn't say what I had just wrote is insignificant.... It couldv'e been a good article for GP class last year, HAHA!

That aside, I'll talk about how my days have gone the past few days. It's amazing! I wake up real early, as if I've still got school to worry about - is that sad? No-uh, I think it's probably for my own good. At least mom doesnt have to worry about her eldest daughter being a potato couch/ lazy-ass teenager anymore. Something that makes me feel better about myself... hahhhh. YAYAY~

The only problem is that I still sleep after midnight - no, make that HOURS after midnight. I think I may have a minor sleeping disorder and lack sleep. Even so, I'm more hyper than I would be with over 7 hours of sleep. This, I must research about!! O_O HAHAHA WHAT?! I need something to kill time with, anyway.

TTFN,
Nazz