Acetes is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of prawn

Prawn

Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...

s. Several of its species are important for the production of shrimp paste

Shrimp paste

Shrimp paste or shrimp sauce, is a common ingredient used in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese cuisine. It is known as terasi in Indonesian, ngapi in Burmese, kapi in Thai, Khmer and Lao language, belacan in Malay, mắm ruốc, mắm tép and mắm tôm in...

 in South East Asia, including Acetes japonicus, which is the world's most heavily fished species of shrimp or prawn.

Description

The genus is characterised by the loss of the fourth and fifth pairs of pereiopods. They are small prawns, 1–4 cm (0.393700787401575–1.6 ) long, translucent

Transparency and translucency

In the field of optics, transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through a material; translucency only allows light to pass through diffusely. The opposite property is opacity...

, but with a pair of black eyes, and a number of red spots of pigment

Pigment

A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...

 on the uropods.

Life cycle

The eggs

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

 of Acetes are green. As they develop, they swell to twice their original size or more. The eggs hatch early in the year, and the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e grow, mature and spawn in the same year.

Taxonomy

It includes 14 species, which are listed here with their FAO endorsed common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

s:

• Acetes americanus Ortmann, 1893 – aviu shrimp
• Acetes binghami Burkenroad, 1934
• Acetes chinensis Hansen, 1919 – northern mauxia shrimp
• Acetes erythraeus Nobili, 1905 – tsivakihini paste shrimp
• Acetes indicus H. Milne-Edwards, 1830 – Jawala paste shrimp
• Acetes intermedius Omori, 1975 – Taiwan mauxia shrimp
• Acetes japonicus Kishinouye, 1905 – akiami paste shrimp
• Acetes johni Nataraj, 1947
• Acetes marinus Omori, 1975
• Acetes natalensis Barnard, 1950
• Acetes paraguayensis Hansen, 1919
• Acetes serrulatus (Krøyer, 1859) – southern mauxia shrimp
• Acetes sibogae Hansen, 1919 – alamang shrimp
• Acetes vulgaris Hansen, 1919 – jembret shrimp

Fishery

Many species of Acetes are fished for commercially, and the different species are often not discriminated. Acetes japonicus is the most fished species of crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

, with global production in 2008 of 558124 tonnes (1,230,452,796.2 lb). Fishers mostly use push nets and bag nets, as well as seines both on boats and from the shore.

Preparation

Only a small proportion of the entire catch is sold fresh, with most of it being dried

Dried shrimp

Dried shrimp are shrimp that have been sun dried and shrunk to a thumbnail size. They are used in many Asian cuisines, imparting a unique umami taste. A handful of shrimp is generally used for dishes...

, salted or fermented

Fermentation (food)

Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...

. The caught prawns are washed and then mixed with 4–5 lb (1.8–2.3 kg) of salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

 per 100 lb (45.4 kg) of prawns. The prawns are then crushed using cleavers

Cleaver (knife)

A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is used mostly for hacking through bones as a kitchen knife or butcher knife, and can also be used for crushing via its broad side, typically garlic....

 and packed into various containers, where the paste remains for around 4 hours. After this, the paste is re-packed, before being left to mature for a month, after which it is mixed and crushed again, and then packed for sale. If a producer cannot sell the paste quickly, it can be kept for up to 6 months, mincing it every month or so. The resulting paste is reported to contain 16.2% protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

and 1.3% fat.