A Florida fisherman caught a foot-long tiger shrimp in the St. Johns River that was delivered to Trout River Fish Co. Inc.
"That's a huge shrimp,” owner Bruce Nipper said. "Shrimper came in with 600 pounds of shrimp yesterday, and we were dumping them and weighing it on the scale when we happened to spot him in the shrimp."
Nipper said the shrimp weighs half a pound.
Nipper said it’s common to see several of the large shrimp throughout the year but said in the last few years, they have been popping up more often.
He said the problem is that the giant tiger fish eat the smaller shrimp, which are big sellers.
"They eat our other shrimp, and the worry is if there's enough of them getting bred out in the wild, will we have an effect where it eats up our shrimp,” Nipper said.
For now, Nipper said he isn’t too worried about that happening anytime soon and instead said he’s focusing on making the best of the surprise catch.
"I haven't eaten one yet,” Nipepr said. “I will eat this one. They say they taste like lobster."
Nipper said he expects to see more of the tiger shrimp after the white shrimp season gets underway in August.
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