Considering the factors of recognized use of different antibiotics in the global shrimp farming, the productive potential of shrimps in the northeastern Brazilian region, the residue monitoring scopes of inspection agencies and the risks associated with the use of antibiotics for food safety and public health, as well as toxicity and mechanisms of development of pathogenic microbial resistance, especially in the aquatic environment, the aim of the study was to determine, by the liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry with source (LC-ESI-MS/MS), the occurrence of multiclasses and multiresidues of 12 antibiotics belonging to tetracyclines, sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones and amphenicols in shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), water and sediments from 5 farms shrimp farms with different models of production, present in the state of Rio Grande do Norte-Brazil. Raised nurseries were selected for collection of the 3 matrices and points upstream and downstream of the nurseries, for the collection of environmental matrices destined to the study of spatial distribution of residues in the farms. Physicalchemical parameters of water quality were evaluated during sampling. On line Solidphase extraction techniques were used to LC-MS/MS for sediment, Captiva cartridges for filtration of shrimp muscle extracts and off-line solid-phase extraction to LC-MS/MS in surface water, with the samples packed in SPE cartridges prior to the transportation to the laboratory.The chromatographic methods validations were done for the parameters of selectivity, linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy, precision and long-term stability of the analytes in the matrix. LOQs ranged from 0.82 (sulfadimethoxine) to 7.63 (chloramphenicol) ng mL-1 for water, 1.23 (tetracycline) at 15.99 (chloramphenicol) μg kg-1 for sediment and 1.24 (enrofloxacin) at 12.05 (sulfatiazole) μg kg-1 for shrimp. Sulfadimethoxine (23.4 ng L-1) and florfenicol (10.78 to 175.77 ng L-1) residues were the only antibiotics detected and quantified in nursery water. In sediments, oxytetracycline, enrofloxacin and norfloxacin residues were detected only upstream of the nurseries and at levels