Why your prawns head droopy and shell so soft..... Not Fresh ah?~

Softshell Crab I heard before but Soft shell Prawns?!

As many have always wonder and hear from people around, droopy heads and soft shell is not fresh. That is NOT TRUE.

Let talk about why their shell is soft and meat stick to the shell.

How do prawns grow?

They go through this process call "Molting" - Shedding of existing tight exoskeleton leaving the layer of transparent "image"(shell) of itself and stretch itself bigger. During this period of them, they are very fragile as they are waiting for their shell to harden, they will go into hiding and emerge when they are ready.

Photo from: https://www.shrimpscience.com/

So those wild caught prawns, happen to be netted those molting prawns, their shells definitely  not have time to harden in time. At the same time, those being netted, the load of the prawns will pressure on each other and causes the head to be stuck or push out due to pressure while hauling and unloading.

So droopy heads and soft shell ≠ bad quality

Bad Quality = Ammonia smell