Bizarre practices: female shrimp are mutilated to make them lay more eggs
In this edition of ‘bizarre stories’: apparently, one eye is cut off large shrimp — or rather, female shrimp — so they will lay more eggs and production can therefore be increased. WHAT?? Keuringsdienst van Waarde made a shocking episode about how the farmed shrimp industry boosts birth rates in an outrageous way.
The makers of the consumer programme Keuringsdienst van Waarde investigated a horror story that even some shrimp experts in the Netherlands had never heard of…
Rumours had already been circulating
Still, there was also a shrimp expert who could somewhat understand it, because waiting for the mother to produce eggs could take a long time and farmers would then be unable to keep their production going. Another importer also said that he had heard of shrimp being mutilated so they would lay more eggs.
A no-go in the Benelux
The only shrimp farmer in the Benelux could confirm that ‘in the past’, one eye was cut off female shrimp because it contains a gland that can inhibit egg production, as the hormones in it have an inhibitory effect. He certainly does not do this, he said, but added that shrimp farmers in the tropics still do it.
Confirmation
Keuringsdienst then travelled to Thailand, where they visited a gigantic ‘hatchery’, a shrimp farm. There, it was openly explained (at least) why and how female shrimp are mutilated to ensure that they can lay eggs every week instead of every two weeks.
Shocking practices
Emeritus professor of animal physiology Gert Flik explains in the episode that this is standard daily practice in the international shrimp farming industry. Anne Hilhorst of Wakker Dier describes — as confirmed by the footage — how, after her eye is cut off, the mother shrimp swims around disoriented and moves her legs towards the spot where her eye used to be. She then does indeed produce more eggs, which is precisely the farmers’ aim in order to meet demand.
We had no idea about this and were pretty shocked. Curious about the full story? Watch the episode of Keuringsdienst van Waarde here now.
Also read:
- Website collects product warnings: a frightening number of products are unsafe
- RIVM warns: don’t eat fish from the Westerschelde
- 14 pets having terrible luck (when they tried to steal food)
