Brown shrimp

The seafood of springtime on the Gulf coast

Americans have never been particularly enthusiastic about seafood—per capita, we eat 20 pounds of the stuff in an average year, compared to 115 pounds of chicken—though there is one notable exception. We eat almost twice as much shrimp as any other creature of the sea.

That’s a broad statistic: there are thousands of species of shrimp in the world. Today, I’ll introduce you one that might be appearing on your plate this summer. The season for Farfantepenaeus aztecus, or brown shrimp, opened in Louisiana’s inshore waters in mid-May, which means fresh “brownies” are now available on docks across the coast.

To understand the rhythm of the shrimping seasons, you have to understand the lifecycle of this crustacean. Brown shrimp spawn in deep waters, far from land; then, as the larvae grow, they’re carried by currents and flood tides into the marshes along the coast.

Brown shrimp reach the marshes around February most years, where they grow rapidly, preparing to swim out to sea again. Spring…