They were released from an aquaculture facility in SC. There's a good chance that accounts for the ones being found on the Southeastern Atlantic Coast, the ones in the Gulf are likely from the Caribbean Islands. They also have large scale aquaculture going on down there. It isn't like someone forgot to close a gate or a few fell into the creek. These areas are all susceptible to large scale hurricanes all summer and fall. Most likely, these escaped during a hurricane event. We know about the release in SC, it's the US and we have good reporting and monitoring for these kind of things from companies. Imagine how many have been released by independent companies that are unregulated in the Caribbean.
Only time till tell what happens, but the DNA testing will give us a better idea where the tiger shrimp are originating. My hunch is that the gulf shrimp are not the same shrimp released in SC.
