he Spot prawn, indigenous to the west coast is found from Alaska to the Mexican border. The resource is quite healthy in Alaska where a head off trap based fishery takes place from October through December. The largest impact on availability seems to be the presence of Japanese buyers on the grounds. In years when the Japanese buy to fill their freezers for the sushi bar trade very few spots make it to the lower 48. The strength of the yen versus the dollar often has a great impact on supply.

The spot prawn is a protandric hermaphrodite, meaning, the first couple of years are spent as a male, as they mature they change sex to female. In September the females spawn, extruding from 1,000 - 5,000 eggs to be carried on their swimmerets for the next 4 -5 months. This is why nearly all of the larger sized shrimp, which are females, are carrying bright red eggs. This may seem like an inopportune time to fish for the shrimp but unfortunately when a species is grouping for sexual activity it is often the only time they can be harvested economically. Alaskan fisheries biologists carefully monitor stocks, which are considered to be very healthy.

Called "Ame-Ebi" in Japanese meaning, "sweet shrimp" the name is truly descriptive of this deliciously sweet firm textured shrimp. In the Alaskan fishery the shrimp are immediately de-headed as they come on board. Therefore we have never had a problem with mushy textured shrimp, a problem common to the head-on California fishery. In my opinion these are the best shellfish available to us on the west coast, similar to Scampi or Dublin Bay Prawns, equal to any crustacean in the world.

Spot shrimp are generally sold at "under 15 count" (U-15) 100% of which will carry eggs, 16-20 of which 50% will carry eggs and 21-30 size none of which will carry eggs.

Spotshrimp are delicious charcoal grilled, they can also be sautéed deep-fried, or baked in rocksalt. The beautifully crunchy red eggs are delicious when used to make a "caviar", enrich a sauce or flavor pasta.

Cautions: head-on shrimp can have texture problems
Sustainable: Buy trap caught rather than trawl