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Rock shrimp (Sicyonia brevirostris) have a hard, spiny shell more like a lobster rather than its shrimp cousins. The shell is "hard as a rock," hence the term rock shrimp. They live and spawn in warm deep waters, 120 to 240 feet.

Until machines were invented to process them, rock shrimp were popular only with avid fishermen and divers because getting to the meat through the hard shell was such a chore. Today rock shrimp is readily available, both fresh and frozen, head on or off, split and/or deveined.

Rock shrimp do not grow as large as their shrimp cousins. Like shrimp, they are sorted and sold by count, meaning the number of shrimp it takes to weigh in at 1 pound. The largest commercially-available rock shrimp are 21 to 25 to the pound and are about 2 inches in length (although some have been found measuring up to 6 inches).

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