The aim of this research was to characterize the digestive proteases on the different life stages of the native shrimp Farfantepenaus subtilis. The hepatopancreas were homogenized with 0.9% (w/v) NaCl (40 mg/mL) and centrifuged at 10,000xg at 4°C for 25 minutes. Unspecific proteolytic activity of crude extract was determined using azocasein as substrate. Specific proteolytic activity using BApNA and Leu-p-Nan were performed. For enzyme inhibition PMSF, TLCK, benzamidine, and bestatin were used as specific inhibitors. The influences of pH and temperature on the proteolytic activity were assayed. For the thermal stability, the extract was incubated at different temperatures, for 30 minutes and equilibred at 25°C. The proteolytic patterns were observed using casein as substrate in zymograms. Unspecific activity on crude extracts of juvenile and adult shrimps was 0.089 U/mg and 0.088 U/mg, respectively. With BapNA, the activity on juveniles was 1.99 U/mg and adults, 1.71 U/mg. With Leu-p-Nan, the activity on juveniles was 0.06 U/mg and the adults, 0.08 U/mg. PMSF, TLCK and benzamidine inhibition was statiscally different between juvenile and adult shrimps, whilst inhibition displayed by bestatin was not. The maximum proteolytic activity using BapNA was at pH 8.5, on juveniles and adults, and 8.0 using Leu-p-Nan. The maximum proteolytic activity using BapNA and Leu-p-Nan on juvenile shrimps was at 55°C. For adult shrimps, the maximum activity was at 55°C and 45°C using BapNA and Leu-p-Nan, respectively. The trypsin-like retained about 11% of its activity at 55°C for juvenile shrimps and 18% for adults. The leucine aminopeptidase-like presented retention of 60% of activity for juveniles and 80% for adults at 55ºC. The thermal stability zymogram showed an extra sligth band at 65ºC for juveniles. The results suggest that trypsin and leucine aminopeptidase are present in F. subtilis hepatopancreas. Moreover a slight difference in respect to physico-chemical parameters of leucine aminopeptidase from juveniles and adults was observed.