Penaeid shrimp reared in earthen ponds are exposed to sediment, which can, in some instances, induce a stress. In seawater, the osmoregulatory capacity (hyporegulation) is a useful tool to compare the physiological condition of shrimp exposed to various stressors. By keeping some shrimp in cages at different locations of a single pond heterogeneous in terms of sediment quality, it was possible, using osmotic pressure (OP), to identify some locations where the stress was maximum and some others where it was minimum. Simultaneously, sediment samples were taken and analysed in order to evaluate some physico-chemical parameters that could be related to the stress observed in the shrimps kept in the cages. This approach allowed to show a significant positive correlation between the pH of the sediment surface and the shrimp osmotic pressure. This result was confirmed in a study carried out in experimental 70-1 tanks, where osmotic pressure decreased significantly as water pH decreased from 7.0 to 6.5. The methodology developed in this study may be useful to evaluate the stress caused by sediment in shrimp farms. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.