Recently, a viral video claiming that mantis shrimp are being injected with glue has been making the rounds online. In the video, an angry woman exclaims, "The shrimp I bought this morning were all injected with glue! This glue is rock-hard, everyone, do not buy or eat it!" The woman then proceeds to open several mantis shrimp, revealing a red, gel-like substance inside. But is this really glue?
Are Mantis Shrimp Injected with Glue?
Salt and pepper mantis shrimp, spicy mantis shrimp, steamed mantis shrimp... Nowadays, the various ways to prepare mantis shrimp on the market are tantalizing food lovers' taste buds. Mantis shrimp, whose scientific name is Stomatopoda, are also known by different names in various regions, such as "濑尿虾" (lazy urine shrimp), "螳螂虾" (mantis shrimp), "琵琶虾" (pipa shrimp), and "虾爬子" (shrimp crawler). Its meat is more delicious, tender, and delicate than that of crabs and large prawns.
Every year from April to June is the best season for eating mantis shrimp. During this time, the mantis shrimp meat is full and succulent. It is also the season when the female shrimp's gonads mature. These gonads, which extend from the head and thorax all the way to the tail segment, turn orange when mature, which is what we commonly call "shrimp roe (or膏)". The richness of mantis shrimp roe is no less than that of crab roe or crab paste, and mantis shrimp with roe can even be sold for a higher price than regular ones. The mantis shrimp roe looks plump, rich, and elastic, which explains why the woman in the opening video mistook it for glue. In fact, just like with live crabs, injecting glue into live mantis shrimp would cause them to die, making it a loss for the breeders.