[ferretchucker]

True shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Together with prawns, they are widely caught and farmed for human consumption.


Taxonomy
A number of more or less unrelated crustaceans share the word "shrimp" in their common name. Examples are the mantis shrimp and the opossum or mysid shrimp, both of which belong to the same class (Malacostraca) as the true shrimp, but constitute two different orders within it, the Stomatopoda and the Mysidacea. Triops longicaudatus and Triops cancriformis are also popular animals in freshwater aquaria, and are often called shrimp, although they belong instead to the Notostraca, a quite unrelated group.

Shrimp are distinguished from the superficially similar prawns by the structure of the gills, There is, however, much confusion between the two, especially among non-specialists, and many shrimp are called "prawns" and many prawns are called "shrimp". This is particularly widespread in culinary contexts. In Southeast Asia, the difference between shrimp and prawns is based on size, with larger shrimp being called prawns.





In short, most people call prawns and crayfish shrimp. Just checking coz it bugs me when people do it.