The Season is Starting!
Rock Shrimp – The season is starting.
You may live or play in Titusville and know all about how rock shrimp taste but do you truly know when rock shrimp season starts.
Why would it matter? Well, if you love food then it matters. Rock shrimp can be caught year-long depending on regulation but the bulk of the harvest is between September thru February. At Wild Ocean, the premier seafood market for rock shrimp, we cannot wait for the season to start. For us, it is a time of renewal and the start of another cycle. Not only are rock shrimp a part of our cultural history but boy are they delicious!!! Sweet, plump and firm perfectly describes the taste (with a hint of lobster). What they lack in size, they make up in taste.
We all know the origins of rock shrimp and are eternally grateful to the Thompson family for pioneering the industry. What we have in Titusville is truly a gem and very rare, even in our peninsula where we are surrounded by water. When over 93% of seafood consumed in United States is imported you have to realize that having a local, sustainable resource that we can call our own is an amazing detail about our town. To think that we even use the same machinery used over 30 years ago when most processing facilities have moved onto big processing automated machines.
You can find samples, tours and eatery specials at Wild Ocean Seafood Market from Monday Sept. 17th to Sunday Sept. 23rd in honor of the rock shrimp harvest. For More Information, Click HERE.
Let’s celebrate rock shrimp because it makes Titusville that much more special.
Here are a few facts about rock shrimp directly from NOAA’s fishwatch website:
“Rock shrimp, a decapod crustacean of the family Sicyoniidae, is found along the northwest Atlantic coast from Virginia to Florida, and along the Gulf of Mexico to Cabo Catoche, Mexico.
Habitat: This benthic invertebrate is primarily found on hard sand/shell substrates and occasionally on mud, at depths ranging from a few meters to 80 meters. Largest concentrations are found between 25 and 65 meters. This species is not known to enter estuaries.
Feeding and Behavior: This omnivorous species feeds on detritus and algae, benthic polychaetes, molluscs, crustaceans and other invertebrates, and zooplankton. The species feeds at night. This species occasionally aggregates in dense schools.
Reproduction: Spawning grounds occur throughout the range. Peak season is October to February but spawning may occur year-round with females reproducing three or more times per season.
Movement: Movements of adult rock shrimp have not been recorded. Juveniles move into deeper waters as they mature. Fisheries: Rock shrimp are present in the shrimp catches off northeast Florida where a small directed commercial fishery for this species exists. The harvest season extends from fall through spring.” NOAA – Fishwatch 2018
