Global bibliometric trends in shrimp chronobiology: From behavioral rhythms to precision aquaculture frontiers

The global expansion of intensive shrimp farming confronts a physiological paradox: while production systems become increasingly technological, management protocols often disregard the temporal dimension of crustacean physiology. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of shrimp chronobiology based on 197 Scopus-indexed publications (1943-2026). Network analysis reveals a conceptual transition from descriptive ecological studies (1950s-1990s) focused on tidal rhythms and catchability to a contemporary molecular frontier (2015-2025) driven by transcriptomics, clock gene expression, and immune-circadian interactions. Keyword co-occurrence analysis identified four structural clusters: Production/Feeding, Behavior/Locomotion, Molecular Physiology, and Toxicology. Analysis of the most-cited and recent articles demonstrates that while light and feeding have been validated as primary zeitgebers, a critical knowledge gap persists regarding circadian regulation of osmotic stress. Despite the dominance of inland low-salinity farming, none of the top-ranked studies investigated rhythmic osmoregulation. We identify the lack of research on circadian regulation of osmotic stress as a significant knowledge gap and propose a research agenda integrating chronobiology into precision aquaculture to optimize metabolic efficiency and disease resistance.