When a new species appears in the Gulf of Mexico, it can cause concern and raise a lot of questions. Which habitat does it prefer? What will it eat? What will eat it?

One of these species of concern is the invasive tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon), a very large shrimp that is native to Indo-Pacific, Asian and Australian waters. Jennifer Hill, an assistant professor at Louisiana Tech University, has been working to determine which type of habitat tiger shrimp prefer in the Gulf and how they might affect native shrimp populations. She is studying whether tiger shrimp will compete with native populations for food, if native shrimp are likely to become their prey and if existing Gulf predators will eat tiger shrimp. Read more