Palaemon vulgaris, variously known as the common American prawn, common grass shrimp, marsh grass shrimpormarsh shrimp,[1] is a common species of shrimp in the western Atlantic Ocean from Cape Cod Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.[2][3] Adults grow to less than 5 cm (2.0 in) long, and are transparent except for some orange pigmentation on the eyestalks.[4]
Marsh grass shrimp have been investigated for their maneuverability and swimming. These shrimp swim metachronally, creating an appendage wave, starting with the pleopod closest to the tail, beating all of their appendages with a phase lag. They also modulate the profile area of their appendages to create net thrust.
Through Particle Image Velocimetry, two drag-reducing mechanisms have been identified in marsh shrimp swimming that enable them to reduce drag during the return stroke of their beat. The first of those mechanisms is asymmetric flexibility, with the appendages staying mostly rigid during the power stroke and being flexible during the return stroke, this results in a reduced wake. The second of those mechanisms is grouping of the appendages.[5]
^Ritindra N. Khan; Henry C. Merchant & Robert E. Knowlton (1997). "Effects of macrophytic cover on the distribution of grass shrimps, Palaemonetes pugio and P. vulgaris". Invertebrate Biology. 116 (3): 243–247. JSTOR3226900.
^Edward E. Ruppert & Richard S. Fox (1988). Seashore animals of the Southeast: a guide to common shallow-water invertebrates of the southeastern Atlantic Coast. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN0-87249-535-3.
^Tack, Nils, and Monica M Wilhelmus. "Swimming isn't such a drag: How the coalescence and flexibility of shrimp pleopods minimize drag during metachronal swimming." Bulletin of the American Physical Society (2022).
