Effect of background color on shrimp pigmentation

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of tank background color on color and total carotenoid content of Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp. Five hundred shrimp were grown in two white tanks. Thirty shrimp from each white tank were randomly taken and placed in two black tanks. Ten shrimp of each tank were collected after 30 days of commercial pellet feed. Color analyses showed that color of raw shrimp grown in black tanks was significantly darker (L* 26.02), green (a* -2.42) and blue (b* -2.85) than in white tanks (L* 33.45, a* -0.77, b* 3.88). After cooking, animals from black tanks presented more intense orange color (a* 21.68, b* 33.22) than in white tanks (a* 12.21, b* 22.37), but presenting similar total carotenoid content. Preliminary studies have reported that background color influences the color of shrimp, but does not interfere significantly in the carotenoid amount accumulated in shrimp.