Abstract The ghost shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, is a common estuarine member of the food chain. It is widely used in bioassay testing by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Culture techniques for the ghost shrimp have been established for more than 10 years. The organism, as an adult, is vivacious and will breed readily in captivity. The larvae have a 30‒d life cycle in which they consume a variety of planktonic organisms before assuming the adult form. The ghost shrimp is utilized in testing metallic, organic and petroleum contaminants in the marine and estuarine environments, both in the larval stages (aged 2–4 weeks) and in the adult stage.