Shrimp Size Chart

Shrimp size names are not standardized. Because these names vary from vendor to vendor and store to store, one company’s large is another company’s extra large. The best way to eliminate ambiguity is to disregard the name and select shrimp based on the actual count per pound, which is clearly labeled on the packaging.

According to the American Shrimp Processors Association, “The shrimp count on a bag of wild-caught U.S. shrimp is the number that denotes how many shrimp are approximately in the bag ‛per pound.’”

The letter U (for “under”) means that there should be fewer than that number of shrimp in a pound; two numbers separated by a slash indicates the range of shrimp per pound in that particular size.

The smaller the number per pound, the bigger the shrimp.