White string in shrimp

[Trickyspark]

I have 2 questions. I'll try to keep it brief.

1. I have a few ghost shrimp, and I noticed one had what looked like a short length of kite string running froma round its eyes, down towards the tail, and back up again. It was symmetrical. None of the other shrimp had this, my wife thought it was shrimp poo, but it stayed that way for a week or so. Later the next week, I saw a shrimp eating it, another swam up and began tugging at it, after a long fight it broke finally. My question is, was that poo? It was white, and didnt' break like fish poo normally does.

2. When in Wal-Mart, I was walking by the seafood department, and noticed some fresh water shrimp that seemed really huge. Bigger in width than a cigar. and about 5 inches long without the head. They were only identified as freshwater shrimp. My question here is, what kind of shrimp species is that? They weren't identified like the others as "Product of China, Indonesia, etc.".

The person in the seafood department had no idea. I've googled giant fresh water shrimp in about every combination with no luck, only finding the giant african shrimp from this site. I dount it was that one, as its considered rare, and I doubt sold for food. I wanted to find out what kind so I can go about tracking down or locating a few to keep. I figure a shrimp that big outta be a cool pet. Not asking for a link, or any for sale as I know that's against the rules. Just looking for a name, or information on what it might be.

[zapisto]

probably macrobrachium rosenbergii

[badflash]

The string was likely a parasite. Hopefully the other shrimp were not infected.

I agree that these were M. Rosenbergii. They are farmed thoughout the warm areas of the USA. They can get to be over 12" not including the claws which can add that much length again.

[Cactus Bastard]

They can get to be over 12" not including the claws which can add that much length again.

Wow, that would be one heck of a cool shrimp. The largest Rosenbergi I've ever seen was about 6" or 7", but it was absolutely amazing. It was in it's own tank at the local pet store, and had just snagged a fathead when I got there. I watched it eat for about fifteen minutes as it slowly devoured the minnow tail first. The Rosenbergii had made it about a third of the way through the fish by the time I had to leave. I have to admit that was pretty disturbing the fathead was alive and gasping the whole time .

[Cactus Bastard]

Here's a thread about the parasite that you probably saw. They are pretty common unfortunately.
viewtopic.php?t=2327&highlight=parasite+ghost