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Region: Australia

Refugee arks

Select Two wrote:
This prompted me to take a look for myself.

If you search google for "fish name fact file no 6" the top link should be a PDF about the naming of prawns and shrimp. It can also be found at the following URL.

https://www.fishnames.com.au/-/media/fishname/fish-name-fact-file-6-prawns-and-shrimp.ashx

It does speak about the species variations but I found these paragraphs to be interesting.

"In Australia and Europe, large species (of both groups) are called prawns, and small species are called shrimps. In the USA, large and small species are called shrimps, and the name prawns is rarely used."

"The same species that is sold as a prawn in Australia will be sold as a shrimp in the USA. If you remember the Paul Hogan tourism ads for North America using the catch phrase "throw another shrimp on the barbie". He was referring to what we call prawns which did cause some confusion in Australia at the time."

Paul Hogan ... pfft.

"Brought to you by the Fish Names Committee" - how wonderful to discover that such a body exists! I'm going to have to dig into the rest of those files...

Well, that certainly does clear up the confusion, especially that bit discussing suborder and infraorder. Thanks a lot for the link. I quite like the term "prawn" and wish we used it here in the States. Glad to know, though, we're more or less eating the same thing - weird little sea bugs that become delicious when grilled.

Reminds me of a fun little debate that is often had, here, regarding the proper name for crayfish. It all comes down to regional difference, but folks like to die on the hill of "crawfish" or "crawdad" or "mudbug." But they're all weird little freshwater bugs that become delicious when grilled :P Do Australians have a separate term for the crayfish?

*salutes the hero Paul Hogan*

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