Location & Habitat: Brown shrimp are found from off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, to the Florida Keys and along the Gulf Coast to northwestern Yucatan in Mexico. They live in shallow water, generally less than 180 feet deep but up to 360 feet deep. As they grow, they migrate seaward to deeper, saltier water. They travel primarily at night especially, at or shortly after dusk and bury themselves in the bottom substrate during the day. When in inshore waters, shrimp like areas with muddy or peaty bottoms rich in organic matter and decaying vegetation. Offshore, brown shrimp are most abundant on soft bottoms of mud and sand.
Brown shrimp are able to reproduce when they reach about 5 1/2 inches long. They spawn in relatively deep water. Females typically release about 500,000 to 1 million eggs near the ocean floor. Scientists aren’t sure exactly when shrimp spawn, but they do know that large numbers of newly hatched shrimp enter estuaries in February and March to settle in their nursery habitat.