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Handbook ofMarine Prawns of IndiaEdited byG. Sudhakara RaoE.V. RadhakrishnanJosileen JoseCentral Marine Fisheries Research Institute(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)Post Box No. 1603, Ernakulam North P.O.Cochin - 682 018, Kerala, Indiawww.cmfri.org.in2013

Handbook ofMarine Prawns of IndiaPublished by:Dr. G. Syda RaoDirectorCentral Marine Fisheries Research Institute(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)Ernakulam North P.O., P.B. No. 1603Cochin-682 018, Kerala, Indiawww.cmfri.org.inEmail: director@cmfri.org.inTel. No.: +91-0484-2394867Fax No.: +91-0484-2394909Publication Production & Co-ordinationV. Edwin JosephOfficer-in-chargeV. MohanTechnical OfficerLibrary & Documentation CentreISBN 978-81-923002-1-4© 2013 Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, KochiAll rights reserved. Material contained in this publication may not bereproduced in any form without the permission of the publisherPrinted at St. Francis Press, Kochi-682 018

PrefaceCentral Marine Fisheries Research Institute realized the importance ofcrustaceans as an exportable resource and started concentrating on prawn fisheriesresearch and development since 1960s. CMFRI conducted a 'Symposium on Crustacea'in collaboration with the Marine Biological Association of India (MBAI) in 1965 to getan idea on the existing information on the biology and fisheries of Crustaceans. TheInstitute also published 'Bulletin 14' entitled 'Prawn Fisheries of India' in 1969 whichbrought to light the complete information on taxonomy, biology and fisheries of thecommercial species of prawns in general and penaeid prawns in particular. Since thenmany studies were conducted on various aspects of prawn fisheries during the last 40years. The prawn landings increased from 62,767 t forming 9.2% of the total marine fishlandings in 1961 to 4,60,028 t forming 12% of the marine fish landings in 2011. The seafood exports gradually increased from 15,732 t valued at Rs.3.92 crores in 1961-62 to6,12,641 t valued at Rs.8363.53 crores by 2006-07 and to 8,13,091 t valued at Rs. 12,901.47crores in 2010-2011. Frozen shrimp continued to be the major export item accounting for51.35% of the total foreign exchange realizations during 2010-11.The institute realising the need to update the information on prawn fisheries istimely bringing out this critical information as 'Handbook of Marine Prawns of India'.The book covers almost all the aspects of capture fisheries of prawns contributed bythe present and former scientists of the institute. Authors have taken care to include allthe information about the biological aspects of the species concerned. Wherevernecessary results obtained in the laboratory culture experiments were also recorded inaddition to the studies made on wild stocks. Importance was given to highlight thepopulation dynamics and stock assessment to design proper management measures.Added attraction of the book is a set of fine photos annexed to the chapter ontaxonomy along with tables and well-illustrated figures.I hope that this book will be handy to all sections of entrepreneurs, researchers andstudents interested in capture fisheries. It is also useful to the scientists and policymakers to design proper management measures to obtain optimum yield from theresource.I congratulate all the contributors and editors for taking all pain and precautionsin bringing out this publication. Also I specially thank Shri. V. Edwin Joseph, Officerin-Charge,Library and Documentation Centre for his efforts of coordination inbringing out the book in an excellent manner.Kochi01-03-2013Dr. G. Syda RaoDirector

Children pooling the catch of Ginger prawn caught by bag net at Veraval

PrefaceContentsChapter 1 Taxonomy ............................................................ 9Chapter 2 Prawn Fisheries2.1 Andhra Pradesh ............................................ 412.2 Gujarat .......................................................... 732.3 Karnataka ...................................................... 852.4 Kerala ............................................................. 992.5 Maharashtra .................................................. 1352.6 Orissa ............................................................ 1432.7 Tamilnadu & Puducherry ............................. 1532.8 West Bengal ................................................. 1672.9 Large trawler of the Northeast coast ......... 1752.10 Non-penaeid prawns .................................... 1972.11 Deep-sea prawns .......................................... 2132.12 Estuarine prawns .......................................... 231Chapter 3 Species3.1 Penaeus indicus .......................................... 2473.2 Penaeus monodon ....................................... 2673.3 Penaeus semisulcatus ................................. 2833.4 Parapenaeopsis stylifera ........................... 2973.5 Metapenaeus monoceros ........................... 3193.6 Metapenaeus dobsoni ................................ 3413.7 Metapenaeus kutchensis ............................ 359Chapter 4 Larval development .......................................... 367Chapter 5 Identification of post larvae .............................. 381References ......................................................... 387Contributors from CMFRI ............................ 415

Metapenaeus affinis

Handbook of Marine Prawns of IndiaPlate - iPenaeus (Fenneropenaeus) indicus H. Milne Edwards, 1837Penaeus (Fenneropenaeus) merguiensis De Man, 1888Full text not availablePenaeus (Fenneropenaeus) penicillatus Alcock, 190524

Full text not availableMechanised Trawlers at PorbanderFishing Harbour, Gujarat

The penaeoid prawns (SuperfamilyPenaeoidea) constitute a diverse group of marinedecapods with over 400 species (Ma et al., 2009).Globally distributed, and inhabiting both shallowwaters and abyssal zones below 5000 m, they occupydifferent trophic levels of the food chain at variouswater depths in the ocean (Pérez Farfante andKensley 1997). This group includes most of theprawns of high economic value that account forover one-third of the annual wild crustacean catch(FAO, 2009).Penaeoidea is considered to have fourfamilies, namely Aristeidae, Solenoceridae,Penaeidae and Sicynoiidae (Holthuis 1980; Liu andZhong 1994; Dall et al., 1990; Hayashi 1992; Chan1998). However, the most recent classificationscheme gives Penaeoidea five families, by addingthe family Benthesicymidae (Pérez Farfante andKensley 1997; Martin and Davis 2001).Benthesicymidae was traditionally considered as asubgroup of Aristeidae, and the suggestion thatthis should be ranked as a family suggested byCrosnier in 1985 was not seriously noticed. As forthe other four families, Sicyoniidae is believed to beclose to Penaeidae while Solenoceridae is allied withAristeidae. Such a subdivision of the superfamilycoincides with the distinct adult habitat choices ofthe families; the penaeids and sicyoniids usuallyinhabit littoral waters while the aristeids andsolenocerids are mostly deep-sea species(Burkenroad 1934, 1936; Pérez Farfante 1969; Dallet al.,1990). However, detailed discussion of theoverall phylogenetic relationships amongst thepenaeoid families and genera have been limited, andonly two comprehensive schemes have beenTaxonomyproposed by Kubo (1949) and Burkenroad (1934),the former scheme mostly based on a verycomplicated set of characters based on a ratherlimited genera proposing Sicyoniidae as the mostprimitive and Penaeidae as the most advancedgroup with Solenoceridae being intermediatebetween Aristeidae and Penaeidae. Burkenroad(1936) on the other hand, constructed a scheme ofall the genera known and consideredSolenoceridae as the most primitive group basedon fossils and Sicyoniidae as the most advanced.The above morphologically inferredphylogenies were challenged by recent phylogeneticstudies with noticeably contrasting conclusions:probably revision of the present classification maybe necessary when more information is generatedon the basis of phylogenetic analysis using 16 S orCo1 genes. Ma et al., (2009) utilized PEPCOY NAKgene sequence to investigate phylogeneticrelationships within penaeoidea following the mostrecent classification of Pérez Farfante and Kensley(1997). They used 7 of 9 genera in Aristeide, 2 of 4genera in Benthesicymidae, 19 of 26 genera inPenaeidae, the single genus of Sicyoniidae and 8 of9 genera in Solenoceridae in a total of 46 species.However, only limited species distributed along theIndian coasts were included in the study. Acomprehensive study using markers with betterresolution of all available species from Indian coastsis needed to decide between alternate hypotheseson the evolution of penaeoidea.Shrimps and prawns constitute a diversegroup of crustaceans varying in size frommicroscopic to about 35 cm body length (measuredFull Text not available19

Handbook of Marine Prawns of Indiadorsally from the posterior orbital margin to the endof the telson, excluding the rostrum and theappendages). They belong to the suborderMacrura Natantia and differ from the lobsters(Macrura Reptantia) in having a laterallycompressed body with well developed abdominalappendages (pleopods), a narrow sternum and adistally tapering telson.The terms ‘shrimp’ and ‘prawn’ are notrelated to any known taxonomic group. Althoughthe term ‘shrimp’ is applied to smaller species, and‘prawn’ to large forms, there is no clear distinctionbetween both terms and their usage is oftenconfused or reverse in different countries or regions(Chan 1998).The term ‘prawn’ is used throughoutthe text in this book. However, the term ‘shrimp’used by original authors and species commonnames are reproduced as such.Although there are about 4,048 species ofprawns known to date, they are subdivided intofour major groups, namely Dendrobranchiata (68species, 533 species), Stenopodidea (12 genera, 71species), Caridea (389 genera, 3,438 species) andProcarididea (2 genera, 6 species) (De Grave andFransen 2010). Although the carideans are a majority,only a few are abundant enough to be of interest tofisheries. Most of the commercial prawns belong tothe Penaeoidea; at present, only less than 300species of prawns are of economic interest worldwideand of these only about 100 comprise the principalshare of the annual world catch (Chan 1998). List offamilies occurring along the Indian coast (Arabiansea and Bay of Bengal including Andaman andNicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands) is givenin the table.Most of the commercial species of prawnsbelong to the superfamily penaeoidea. Studies onpenaeoids are more comprehensive and at present5 families, 23 genera and 121 species (including theintroduced species) are known to occur along theIndian coast including the Lakshadweep andAndaman and Nicobar Islands, with the penaeidaebeing the most important family (Radhakrishnan etal., 2011). As species of penaeidae are generally ofmoderate to large in size occupying large quantitiesin shallow waters along the continental shelf inInfraorderSuperfamilyFamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilyFamilyFamilyFamilyFamilyInfraorderFamilyFamilyInfraorderSuperfamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilyFamilyFamilySubfamilySubfamilySuperfamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilyFamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilyFamilySuperfamilyFamilyFamilyPenaeideaSergestoideaLuciferidaeSergestidaePenaeoideaAristeidaeSolenoceridaePenaeidaeSicyoniidaeBenthesicymidaeStenopodideaStenopodidaeSpongicolidaeCarideaPasiphaeoideaPasiphaeidaeOplophoroideaOplophoridaeNematocarcinoideaNematocarcinidaeRhynchocinetidaePalaemonoideaGnathophyllidaeHymenoceridaePalaemonidaePalaemoninaePontoniinaeProcessoideaProcessidaePsalidopodoideaPsalidopodidaeAlpheoideaAlpheidaeHippolytidaeOgyrididaeBresilioideaDisciadidaePandaloideaPandalidaeThalassocarididaeCrangonoideaCrangonidaeGlyphocrangonidaetrawlable bottoms, they are fished extensively bytrawls, gillnets and seines. Large scale pond cultureof penaeid prawn is practiced in India, theprominent species being Penaeus monodon andrecently the exotic species Litopenaeus vannameiwas introduced for culture. Species of the penaeoidfamilies Aristeidae and Solenoceridae are mainlyFull Text not available10

Taxonomydeep water forms and are now being intensivelyexploited. In contrast, species of the penaeoid familySicyoniidae are generally small, and have nocommercial potential. Though several species ofAristeidae, Solenoceridae and Benthesicymidae arereported from Indian waters by different authors,some species have not been reported later as theydid not appear in regular landings. In India, anaverage 3,97,524 t of prawns (penaeids and nonpenaeids)are landed annually (2008-10) andmajority is exported.Sergestid shrimps are usually small andgenus such as Acetes is important from the fisheriespoint of view. An estimated average 1,596,26 t ofnon- penaeids (2008-10) are annually landed by dolnets and trawl nets mainly along the northwest andnortheast regions. Some of the non-penaeids suchas pandalids contribute significantly to the deepsea landings and are fairly with good commercialvalue.Prawns landed along the Indian coast aregenerally marketed as fresh or frozen and majorityare exported. The species of Acetes are usuallyprocessed into shrimp paste or dried and used forfresh/prawn/poultry feed manufacture.Studies on the taxonomy of Indian penaeidprawns belonging to the families Aristeidae,Benthesicymidae, Penaeidae, Sicyoniidae andSolenoceridae are dealt with by several authors(Milne Edwards H., 1837; Miers 1884; Bate 1888;Wood-Mason 1891; Wood-Mason & Alcock 1891a& b; Alcock & Anderson 1894, 1899; Anderson 1897;Alcock 1899, 1901, 1905 & 1906; Alcock & Macardle1901; Nobili 1903; Alcock et al., 1907; De Man 1908,1911 & 1920; Kemp 1910, 1915 & 1917; Kemp &Sewell 1912; Balss 1925; Sewell 1934; Nataraj 1945& 1953; Kurian 1953, 1954, 1964 & 1965; Menon1956; Mehendale and Tembe 1958; John and Kurian1959; Kunju 1960a & b; George et al., 1963; George1964, 1966, 1969, 1972, 1975b, 1979 & 1980;Ramamurthy 1964; George and Rao 1966a & b; Nairet al., 1967; George and Muthu 1968 a & b; Muthu1965, 1972a & b; Thomas 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972b,1977, 1979 & 1986; Muthu and George 1971;Mohamed and Suseelan 1973, Muthu & Manickam1973; Kathirvel et al., 1976; Silas and Muthu 1976a& b; Kagwade 1978; Rao 1984; Crosnier 1988;Ravindranath 1989; Ramaseshaiah and Murthy1991; Suseelan 1996; Pathan and Jalihal 1997;Dineshbabu 2004; Kathirvel et al., 2007). A totalof 120 species of penaeid prawns have beenrecorded from the inshore and deep sea regions ofthe Exclusive Economic Zone of India, whichworked out to 29.9% of World known 401 penaeidprawn species, as listed by Pérez Farfante & Kensley(1997). The Indian species are mostly caught eitherby trawl or dredge since 1837 to 1934 and later mostlyby exploratory and commercial trawling. Out of 120species, 63 are recorded in the littoral region, 27species are from deep sea, where depth ranged from200 to 1,500 metres. Some are pelagic species andfew are recorded from the Deep Scattering Layer. Inthe present account, an attempt has been made toprovide taxonomical keys for the identification ofdifferent families and genera.ClassificationSubphylum: Crustacea Pennant, 1777Class: Malacostraca Latreille, 1802Subclass: Eumalacostraca Grobben, 1892Superorder: Eucarida Calman, 1904Order: Decapoda Latreille, 1802Suborder: Dendrobranchiata Bate, 1888Superfamily: Penaeoidea Rafinesque, 1815Key to the Superfamilies of the SuborderDendrobranchiata1. Some thoracic somites with at least 3 branchiaeon each side. At least 11 branchiae present oneach side ..................................... PenaeoideaNever more than 2 branchiae per thoracicsomite; never more than 7 or 8 branchiae perside.......................................... .SergestoideaSuperfamily: Penaeoidea Rafinesque-Schmaltz,1815Diagnosis: All five pairs of pereiopods welldeveloped; Pleurobranchia present at least onsomite IX (that of third maxilliped); Some somiteswith at least three branchiae on each side ; Totalnumber of well developed gills on each side at least11. The keys for families and genera as well asfigures are the modified version of those given byPérez Farfante and Kensley (1997).Full Text not available11

Handbook of Marine Prawns of IndiaMost of the commercial species of prawnsbelong to the Superfamily Penaeoidea, which isdivided into families Aristeidae, Benthesicymidae,Penaeidae, Sicyoniidae and Solenoceridae. Amongthem, family Penaeidae comprises more species ofcommercial value prawns.Keys for 5 families of Penaeoidea1. Postorbital spine present ......... SolenoceridaePostorbital spine absent ................................22. Integument rigid and stony; 3 rd to 5 th pereiopodsuniramous, lacking endopods..................................................... SicyoniidaeIntegument never stony; 3 rd to 5 th pereiopodsbiramous .........................................................33. 1 to 3 (occasionally 3) rostral/postrostral teeth......................................................BenthesicymidaeMore than 2 rostral/postrostral teeth .............44. Prosartema well developed ............ PenaeidaeProsartema reduced to setose ........ AristeidaeFamily: Penaeidae Rafinesque-Schmaltz, 1815The generic system of the family wasrevised by Pérez Farfante and Kensley (1997) andas a result a new generic arrangement has beenproposed for the family. However, for each speciestreated here, the generic epithet Penaeus, preferablyqualified at the first mention by Flegel’s proposal,namely to follow the rules of zoologicalnomenclature by placing the sub-genus names inbrackets between the traditional genus namePenaeus and the relevant species name at firstmention, for example Penaeus (Fenneropenaeus)indicus has been adopted. The family now includes26 genera and 216 species and subspecies worldwide (Tavares et al., 2009).Diagnosis: Body compressed, comparativelyslender; Rostrum well developed, extending to orbeyond distal margin of eye and armed with dorsaland sometimes also with ventral teeth; Carapacewithout postorbital spine; antennal and hepaticspines usually present; cervical sulcus ending wellventral to dorsal midline; posterior abdominalsegments carinate; telson sharply pointed, with orwithout lateral spines; antennule with foliaceousprosartema, flagella of about same length; 3 rd to 5 thpereiopods biramous; petasma semi-open or semiclosed;second pleopod of males bearing appendixmasculina only, lacking appendix interna anddistolateral projection; thelycum open or closed.Colour: Body colour varies from semi-translucentto dark grayish green or reddish, often with distinctspots, cross-bands and/or other markings on theabdomen and uropods.Habitat, biology and fisheriesUsually adults inhabit marine; howeverjuveniles and sub-adults are often found in brackishwater and estuaries. Penaeids are mostly benthicand mainly found on soft bottom of sand and/ormud, but a few species of Funchalia are pelagicand others are known to inhabit coral reefs (e.g.the genera Heteropenaeus, Trachypenaeopsis andsome Metapenaeopsis). Some penaeids,Parapenaeus and Penaeopsis occur in deep waterat depth of more than 750 m. The sexes are separateand easily distinguishable by the presence of acopulatory organ (petasma) on the first pair ofpleopods of males, while the females have theposterior thoracic sternites modified into a spermreceptacle process (thelycum), which holds thespermatophores after mating. The shape of thepetasma and thelycum is often specific and usefulfor species identification. The eggs are small andreleased directly into the water. The larvae areplanktonic.At present 19 genera and 71 species ofpenaeids are known to occur along the Indian coastand adjoining seas. Among these, the genusPenaeus is of great economic importance. Penaeidsare caught extensively by trawls, seines andartisanal gears. The genus Metapenaeus andParapenaeopsis are of primary importance fromfisheries point of view and often landed togetherwith P. (F) merguiensis, P. (F) indicus,P. semisulcatus and P. monodon. The other generaseems to be less abundant, althoughMetapenaeopsis and Trachypenaeus are frequentlyfound among prawn landings and have somecommercial value. The deep water generaFull Text not available12

2.1 Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh with a coastline of 974 kmand a continental shelf of 33,227 sq km supports amarine fishery of considerable magnitude. Theannual marine fish landings of the state ranged from1,51,435 to 2,33,276 t during 1996-2006 contributingabout 7.2% to the country’s marine landings. It ranksfifth among the Indian states in marine fishproduction, after Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra andTamil Nadu. Prawns forming as much as 11.3% tothe state’s marine fish landings are an importantitem of export earning foreign exchange. In additionthe two major estuaries of the rivers Krishna andGodavari, the innumerable small estuaries and thesemisaline Lake - the Kollair Lake (1.5 lakh ha) andthe brackish water lagoon the Pulicat Lake (46,000ha) contribute to the wealth of prawn fishery. Witha brackish water area of 1,50,000 ha suitable forprawn culture, 39,537 t of prawns were produced inan area of 33,754 ha during 2009-10. A number offish landing centers spread over the nine districtscontribute to the growth of the fishery along withmajor fishery harbours at Visakhapatnam andKakinada and minor fishery harbours atNarasapuram, Machilipatnam, Nizampatnam andKrishnapatnam. As the marine prawn fishingindustry contributes substantially to the wealth ofthe state, it attracted the attention of researchers inbiology as well as in the economy of the operations.Notable among them are Poliakov (1962),Subrahmanyam (1966, 1967b), Subrahmanyam andGanapati (1971), Sreekrishna and Narayanappa(1970), Satyanarayana and Narayanappa (1972),Muthu (1968), Muthu et al. (1975), Narasimham et al.(1979), Rao (1978, 1979, 1985, 1987, 1988a, 1988b,2Prawn fisheries1988c, 1993b, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009),Rao and Krishnamoorthi (1990), Rao and Varma(2001a, 2001b), Rao et al. (1980, 1993), Alagaraja etal. (1987), Lalithadevi (1987a), FAO (1993),Dixitulu (2001), Kasim et al. (2001), Maheswarudu(MS), Rao et al. (2008) and Reuben et al. (1989).CMFRI carried out census of marinefisheries in 2005. Accordingly, Andhra Pradesh hasa marine fishermen population of 5.09 lakhs and41,039 fishing crafts among which 24,386 are nonmechanized,14,112 motorized, 2,541 mechanized and1,802 are trawlers of different dimensions operatinggill nets, trawl nets, drag nets and multitude of otherfishing nets and gears. The state has all theinfrastructure facilities like ice plants, processingplants and cold storages. There are 206 ice plantswith a production capacity of 2,299 t/day, 29 freezingplants of 287 t/day capacity and cold storages ofthe capacity of 4,265 t at Visakhapatnam, Kakinada,Bhimavaram, Nellore and other places, all cateringto the need of seafood export industry.Exploratory and experimental fishingSekharan et al. (1973) analyzing the dataof the Government of India exploratory vessels forthe period 1961-65 indicated that prawns formed only2% of the landings as the net operated was a fishtrawl with a cod end mesh size of 30-40 mm. Reubenet al. (1989) also indicated that prawns formed onlynegligible proportion of the trawl catches. However,the vessels of Government of Andhra Pradeshoperating from Visakhapatnam and Kakinadaindicated very rich prawn fishing grounds alongFull Text not available41

Handbook of Marine Prawns of Indiathis coast paving the way for commercial operationsfor prawns.The operations of the experimental vesselsof the Central Institute of Fisheries Technologyproved the existence of rich prawn fishing groundsoff Kakinada. In a 9-month experimental study fromJuly 1963 to March 1964 from a 9.1 m mechanizedboat Sebastian et al. (1965) observed that prawnsformed about 18.59% of the total trawl fish caughtoff Kakinada and that December-March periodwas the best season with a peak in February.Shreekrishna and Narayanappa (1970), based ona 3-year study during 1963-66, also off Kakinadafrom the same boat, stated that the prawns formed22.50% of the catch and observed that prawns areavailable throughout the year with two peakseasons, one from November to February and theother in April-June. Later Satyanarayana andNarayanappa (1972) reviewed the results ofexperimental trawling for the period 1964-70 andevaluated the efficiency of different gears testedfor catching prawns and concluded that prawnsare an important resource forming as much as 25-30% of the trawl catches in various experiments.Craft and gearThe traditional gears like shore seines, boatseines and gill nets operated by masula boats, navasand catamarans were harvesting the prawnresources in the past. In recent years, trammel nets(disco-nets) became very popular in harvestingshrimps by non-mechanized boats. Chennubhotlaet al. (1999) described various artisanal crafts andgears used for catching fish. Of these crafts,catamaran, Kakinada nava, Masula boat, shoe doniand fibre-glass boat are used for catching prawns.In recent years some of these varieties of boats havebeen mechanized with outboard motors and inboardengines of different horse power. The artisanal gearsused in prawn fishing are pedda vala, alivi vala,nylon alivi vala, iraga vala, disco vala, ila vala,pakkadevu vala and gidasa vala or thoka vala.In addition to these, trawlers of differentdimensions are operated along the Andhra Pradeshcoast (Rao, 1993a). They are pablo (9.14 m OAL),royya or pomfret (9.6 m OAL), sorrah (11.2 m OAL),sona (13.1 m OAL), mini trawler (16 m OAL) andlarge trawler (23.19-26.95 m OAL). Trawl nets ofdifferent dimensions are used as per the OAL of thevessels. The pablos (wooden boats) of 9.14 m overall-length(OAL) with inboard engines of 40 HP werefirst introduced at Kakinada in 1964. This boat wasable to operate trawl nets up to 20 m depth only asthey did not have a mechanical winch. The pomfret(or royya), the second generation of mechanizedwooden craft of 9.75 m OAL fitted with engines of45-65 HP, was designed for trawling with amechanized winch. These boats were firstintroduced at Kakinada in 1966 and atVisakhapatnam in 1968. In later years they spreadto the smaller ports like Narasapuram,Machilipatnam, Nizampatnam and Krishnapatnamin Andhra Pradesh. Sorrah, the third generationtrawler introduced in 1967 was a failure and formedonly a negligible portion of the fleet.In the earlier years 1967-75, the mechanizedboats (small trawlers) were harvesting the resourcesof the 10-40 m depth zone by conducting single dayfishing. They operated at a maximum distance of 20-30 km from their port of operation. In 1973, themechanized boats of Kakinada and Visakhapatnamstarted to migrate to Paradeep in the fair weatherseason of October-January, exploiting the resourcesaround this port. A major breakthrough occurred in1974, when a few mechanized boats started nightfishing and landing good quantities of prawns atKakinada. Since then night fishing became a regularpractice. With this change, the profitability of smallmechanized boats increased considerably and as aresult the fleet increased year after year. This led toa reduction in the profit margin and as aconsequence, a few boats ventured for 3-4 daysfishing covering a distance of 60-70 km from theport of operation. This type of voyage fishing orstay fishing started in 1981 made it possible forthe small mechanized boats to fish all along thenortheast coast down to 70 m depth, concentratingin the 10-50 m depth range. However, these boatscould still not exploit the rich prawn resources ofthe Sand Heads region.The two imported trawlers exploiting theprawn resources in deeper waters in 1972 provedthe economic viability of large trawlers (Rao, 1987).The large trawler fleet rapidly increased in size whenthe new fisheries harbour was opened atFull Text not available42

Prawn fisheries - Andhra PradeshVisakhapatnam in 1978. About 38 Mexican trawlerswere added to the fleet in about one year andgradually increased from 40 in 1982 to 182 in 1991.However, the maximum that was ever operated wasonly 125 (in 1988-89). They have been operating allalong the northeast coast between Kalingapatnamand Sand Heads off the West Bengal coast withVisakhapatnam as base. Rao (1987) gave design ofthe gear, construction of the vessels and operationaldetails of the large trawlers.The mini trawler, a 16 m OAL woodencraft with 145-180 HP engine was introduced in1981. The number of mini trawlers graduallyincreased from six in 1986 to 78 in 1990. However,these numbers came down to 20 by 1998. Theyoperate at the same depths and in the same areasas the large trawlers. Rao (1987) described thecharacteristics and the operational details of themini trawlers. The most important technologicaldevelopment in the northeast coast, particularlyin Andhra Pradesh in recent years has been theTable 1.Salient features of different types of trawlers operated in Andhra PradeshSpecification Large Mini Sona Royyatrawler trawlerType of hull Steel Wood Wood WoodOver-all-length (m) 23.19 16.00 13.10 9.75Breadth (m) 7.33 5.08 4.10 2.90Draft (m) 3.08 2.15 2.80 1.07HP of engine 380.00 145.00 102.00 60.00GRT 115.80 42.00 18.00 -NRT 78.80 12.80 5.50 -Chill tank capacity 3.50 No freezing facility - -Chill tank temperature 0 C -2 No freezing facility - -Fish hold capacity 25 7.5 - -Fish hold temperature 0 C -18 -18 - -Type of netFour seemtrawl netLength of head rope (m) 26.25 21.54 18.50 16.50Cod end mesh size (mm) 30.00 25.00 15.00 15.00Weight of otter boards (kg) 200.00 75.00 60.00 40.00Trawling speed in knots 2.50 2.00 2.00 2.00Crew compliment 12 8 6 6Endurance in days 23 10 8 2Source : Rao, 1993a.introduction of sona boats. They became verypopular in the wake of increased fuel prices anddesire to extend the voyage up to 15 days to minimizefuel costs. As these boats were landing hugequantities of prawns resulting in increased earnings,the operators began to call them sona boats (Rao,1999). These boats introduced at Kakinada in 1987(Chittibabu et al., 1988) gradually spread to otherports also. Salient features of different types oftrawlers operated from Andhra Pradesh along thenortheast coast are furnished in Table 1.Prawn landingsThe annual prawn landings during 1980-2005 are given in Figure 1. The annual prawn landingsvaried widely during this period from 10,387 t in1987 to 31,682 t in 1999. The penaeid prawn landingsfluctuated from 9,431 t in 1987 to 26,467 t in 1999while the non-penaeid landings varied from 956 t in1987 to 5,851 t in 1983.The percentage composition of penaeids and nonpenaeidsfor different periods is givenbelow:Period Non-penaeids Penaeids1980-84 26.27 73.731985-95 9.67 90.331996-00 15.13 84.872001-05 13.36 86.64There appears to be fourdistinct periods in the landingpattern of penaeids and nonpenaeidsin Andhra Pradesh. In thefirst 5-year period of 1980-84 theproportion of non-penaeids in thelandings was very high (26.27%) andit came down to 9.67% during 1985-95 period. Once again the proportionwas high in the 5-year period of 1996-2000 (15.13%) and declined in 2001-2005 (13.36%). It is quite possible thatmesh changes of the cod ends oftrawl nets influenced the landingpattern of non-penaeids.Full Text not available43

Prawn fisheries - Non-penaeid prawns2.10 Non-penaeid prawnsThe non-penaeid prawns constitute acharacteristic fishery resource along the northwestcoast of India bordering Maharashtra and Gujaratstates, which accounts for nearly 90% of theirlandings in the country. The resource comprisesthe tiny epiplanktonic shrimps occurring in coastalwaters.They are predominantly caught by the bagnets (‘dol nets’) operated in the sea where strongtidal currents enable the bag nets to sustainhorizontally and catch them along with other pelagicresources of the region such as Bombay-duck,Golden anchovy and Ribbonfishes.The catch of non-penaeids in India (Fig. 1)showed an increasing trend from 21,934 t in 1961 toabout 1.77 lakhs t in 1998,with an average annualcatch of 82,677 t that contributed4.6% to the total marine fishlandings of the country. Theincreasing trend in the catch ofnon-penaeid prawns from 1961-1975 was largely due tomechanization of the crafts usedfor operation of bag nets, whichenabled the use of more numberof “nets and also more numberof trips with every tide. But, “risein the catch from 1988” onwardsis largely attributed to reductionof cod end mesh size of trawlnets which resulted in veryheavy catch of Acetes species,one of the major constituents ofthe non-penaeid prawns in thebycatch landed by trawlers inGujarat (Kizhakudan andTumber, 2003). Other majorspecies constituting the nonpenaeidprawn resource alongthe northwest coast areNematopalaemon tenuipes andExhippolysmata ensirostris.In Maharashtra, theaverage annual catch of nonpenaeidprawns during 1961-1005432102010 was 44,139 t that contributed 53.4% to the totalnon-penaeid prawn catch of 82,677 t in India. Thecatch of non-penaeid prawns constituted 15.9% intotal fish landings and 56.2% of total prawn catch ofthe state. During this period, the catch fluctuatedfrom the maximum of 83,952 t which contributed to38.2% in the total fish landings in 1972 to theminimum of 14,886 t in 1995 (4.7%) in the state (Fig. 2).These fluctuations did not explain any particulartrend, but for the very poor catch in 1994-95 thatcould be due to very heavy exploitation of theresource by trawlers in the neighbouring Gujaratstate in the same period. Interestingly, inMaharashtra the trawlers bring only one species ofnon-penaeid prawns namely Nematopalaemontenuipes and rarely Acetes spp, unlike in Gujarat.Thepossible cause could be that the former species hasTotal fishTotal prawns1961 64 67 70 73 76 79 82 85 88 91 94 9 2000 03 06 09YearsFig 1. Non-penaeid prawn landings ( in 10 3 t) in India from 1961-2010806040200Full Text not available196164677073767982858891949720000306Fig 2. Non-penaeid prawn landing (in 10 3 t) in Maharashtra197

Handbook of Marine Prawns of Indiabetter demand in fresh condition in Maharashtra,while the latter gets decomposed rapidly so thatfishermen discard it at sea along with the low valueby-catch.During 2001-2010, the average annualcatch of non-penaeid prawns in Maharashtra was48,053 t that was equivalent to 32.9% to the totalnon-penaeid prawn catch of the country, while inthe state it constituted 14% of total fish landingsand 52.7% of the total prawn catch.Gear-wise catchBag net is the principal gear for catchingnon-penaeid prawns in Maharashtra. Smaller bagnet, called ‘Bokshi’ is operated in inshore creeks forcatching non-penaeid prawns along with Bombayduck,golden anchovy and juveniles of many speciesof prawns and fishes. The resource is also caughtas by-catch in trawl nets in addition to small meshedshore seines. Since tidal amplitude and the tidalcurrents are high along the northern coastline ofthe state, the bag nets are operated only in northernThane, Mumbai and Raigad districts and evidentlythe non-penaeid prawns are landed in these districtsonly. In southern Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts,these prawns are occasionally landed by trawlersand shore seines.During 2001-2010, the average annualcatch of non-penaeid prawns was 48,053 t of whichthe major share came from bag nets (84.2%) followedby trawl nets (14.1%) and the rest (1.7%) from othergears (Fig. 3).Others, 319,(0.6%)Bag net,43218,(87.2%)Trawl, 6043,(12.2%)Fig 3. Gear-wise catch of non-penaeid prawns inMaharashtra during 2001-10In the bag nets (Fig. 4), catch of nonpenaeidprawns during 2001-10 ranged from 32,517t in 2007 to 60,385 t in 2008 with annual average of40,164 t. The catch rate was, however, minimum(11.02 kg/haul) in 2004 and maximum (22.54 kg/haul)in 2009 with an average catch rate of 15.6 kg/haul(Fig. 4) during the period.In trawlers, the annual catch during 2001-10 ranged from 2,706 t in 2010 to 12,317 t in 2004with an average of 6,702 t and the catch rate from0.47 kg/hour in 2007 to 1.83 kg/hour in 2004 (Fig. 5).The average annual catch rate during the periodwas 1.05 kg/hour.In 2001-2010 other gears, which mainlyincluded non-mechanized ‘Bokshi’ nets landed anaverage of 821 t of non-penaeid prawns.Raje and Deshmukh (1989) pointed out thatfishermen at Versova, depending on the availabilityof fish make use of different meshed cod ends forthe bag net operation. At the beginning of thefishing season in September-October, when Bombayduck, golden anchovy, ribbonfishes, penaeidprawns and pomfrets are plenty in the catch thefishermen use large meshed cod ends (>25 mm), butchange over to smaller meshed cod end (

Prawn fisheries - Non-penaeid prawnsCatch in 10^3 t7060504030201002001 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10YearsFig 4. Year-wise catch and catch rate of non-penaeid prawns by bag netsCatch in 10^3 t14121086420Fig 5. Year-wise catch of non-penaeid prawns by trawlers60005000400030002000100002001 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10Years44.4%27.9%6.7%21.7%Versova Arnala Vasai SasoondocksFig.6. Total fish and non-penaeid prawn catch (t) in offshore bag netsSpecies compositionMajor species contributing to the nonpenaeidprawn fishery are Acetes indicus,Nematopalaemon tenuipes and Exhippolysmataensirostris. The epipelagic prawns belonging to thegenus Acetes are represented by four species17.1%NEW25201510502211067.4%MH-5zonecph in kg/hrcph in kg/hrnamely A. indicus, A. johni, A.japonicus and A. sibogae inMaharashtra. Among the speciesA. indicus and A. johni aregenerally caught in bag netsoperated in the open sea waterswhile A. japonicus and A. sibogaeare noticed seasonally in inshorecreeks. N. tenuipes is alsoplanktonic while E. ensirostris islittoral benthic but occasionallysurfaces to get trapped in bagnets along with other penaeidprawns. Exopal -aemonstyliferus, a species close to N.tenuipes, occurs in estuarinewaters and forms smallpercentage of non-penaeidprawns in the inshore bag nets.In addition, a number of speciesbelonging to the familyPalaemonidae occur in the bagnets operated in the inshorewaters during monsoon, but noneof them supported a regularfishery.The composition ofspecies supporting the nonpenaeidprawn fishery at differentlanding centres and zones during2001-2010 is given in Table 1. Atalmost all the centres, exceptingVasai, Acetes spp. predominatedand constituted 58.2-82.4% of thenon-penaeid prawn fishery. AtVasai, the bag nets with larger meshsize are selectively used forpomfrets which filter off Acetesspp. but retain good quantity ofN. tenuipes from February to May.From the estimated species wise landings, an averagespecies composition for the state has been arrivedat by giving appropriate weightage for the centresand zones. Accordingly, during 2001-2010 Acetesspp. formed 73.9%, N. tenuipes 23.2%, E. ensirostris2.8% and E. styliferus 0.1% of the non-penaeid prawnfishery in the state.Full Text not available199

2.11 Deep-sea prawnsFrom the beginning of this century, largevarieties of prawns belonging to families Penaeidae,Pasiphaeidae, Oplophoridae and Pandalidae havebeen reported from the west coast of India,particularly from southern regions beyond thecontinental shelf (Alcock 1901, 1906; de Man 1911,1920; Calman 1939; John and Kurian 1959; Kurian1964; George 1966; George and Rao 1966b;Suseelan and Mohamed 1968 and Suseelan 1974,1989). However, existence of some of these speciesin commercially exploitable concentrations inthese deeper waters has been brought to light onlyrecently. Silas (1969) and Mohamed and Suseelan(1973) gave general accounts on the distributionand relative abundance of common species ofprawns of the shelf-edge and upper continentalslope of the southwest coast. Detailed review ondeep-sea fisheries of India has been given recentlyby Rao (2009).The rapid development that has takenplace in the 60’s in the prawn processing and exportindustry of India has not only intensified theexploitation of the inshore prawn resources but alsoprompted the search for new resources. A concertedeffort in finding out the extent of such resourcescan be said to have commenced only from 1967 whensome newly acquired trawlers of the erstwhile IndoNorwegian Project (INP) started exploratory trawlingand charting of the deep-sea grounds lying off theKerala coast.Exploratory surveys by INP vesselsThe INP Vessels M.V. Klaus Sunnana, M.V.Velameen and M.V. Tuna and the research vesselR.V.Varuna were the first to conduct detailedsurveys along the southwest coast. The areacovered by these operations lie between latitude 8°N and 14° N off southwest coast of India and in thedepth range of 120-430 m. These areas arecharacterized by certain physical features, whichare significantly different from the conventionaltrawling grounds of the inshore region. Mohamedand Suseelan (1973) analysed the operations ofthese vessels during 1965-1968 and gave a detailedaccount of the findings.Prawn fisheries - Deep-sea prawnsThe exploratory vessels Klaus Sunnana,Tuna and Velameen made 190 hauls in 22 cruises atdepths ranging from 200 to 395 m, mostly off Quilonand Alleppy and R. V. Varuna made 96 hauls fromdepths varying between 124 m and 430 m. Of the286 hauls, 37 contained no catch whatsoever and inthe remaining 249 hauls the catch varied from 1 kgto 2,510 kg per haul of approximately one hourduration and amounted to a total yield of 63,928 kgincluding fish, prawns, lobsters and othercrustaceans. The overall catch per hour of trawling(CPH) worked out to 231.62 kg and that of prawnsalone to 89.5 kg. The 24,700 kg of prawns landedformed a little over 38% of the total catch. Prawnswere obtained in 207 hauls and their catch variedfrom 0.5 kg to 930 kg per haul of one-hour duration.Although about 18 species of penaeid andnon-penaeid prawns were observed in the catches,only about 8 species constituted the bulk of thecatch. The common species of prawns thatconstituted the deep-sea catch were Heterocarpuswoodmasoni, H. gibbosus, Plesionika spinipes,P. martia, P. ensis, Metapenaeopsis andamanensis,Penaeopsis rectacuta and Aristeus alcocki. Whileone or the other species of prawns showedconcentration in particular areas, the catches werealways of heterogeneous nature and containedseveral species in varying proportions. Oplophorusgracilirostris, Parapenaeus investigatoris,Hymenopenaeus aequalis and Solenocera hextiiwere also landed occasionally in considerablequantities. Prawns were by no means, the only catchobtained in these operations. As stated already,fishes accounted for more than half the landedweight of the catches. The common species of fishesin the by-catch were Chlorophthalmus agassizi,C. bicornis, Cubiceps natalensis, Epinnulaorientalis etc. Although these fishes accounted forthe bulk of the catch they were seldom retained onboard as they were of very little value in relation tothe prawns caught. The Indian deep-sea lobster andportunid crabs were the other common items in theby-catch.A general appraisal of the distribution ofthese prawns, made possible by these exploratorywork shows that the species composition and theintensity of their distribution vary from place to placeFull Text not available213

SpeciesChapter 3Full Text not available

Handbook of Marine Prawns of IndiaFull Text not availablePenaeus indicus246

Species - Penaeus indicus3.1 Penaeus indicusIt was Perez Farfante (1969) who first splitthe Genus Penaeus into sub-genera and then intogenera. But a number of taxonomists have notaccepted the splitting of the Genus Penaeus intofive or six separate genera. Lavery et al. (2004) madedetailed mitochondrial DNA sequences on samplescollected from almost all the countries in the worldand rejected the idea of splitting the genus Penaeusinto different genera.Penaeus indicus H. Milne Edwards, 1837is closely related to P. merguiensis (de Man, 1888),and P. penicillatus (Alcock, 1905) differing only ina very few characters. For a long time identificationof these three species posed problems. Muthu andRao (1973) conducted detailed studies on P. indicusand P. merguiensis and gave clear cut distinguishingcharacters based on colour pattern of the antennaland antennular flagella and the pleopods anddisposition of rostral teeth. This study also helpedin distinguishing P. penicillatus from P. merguiensis.The ever increasing demand and economic valuemake this resource highly esteemed in capturefisheries as well as in culture practices. This speciesprefers sandy or muddy bottom. It is a eurythermaland euryhaline species which can tolerate up to 45‰salinity (del Mundo, 2000). Though they areavailable up to a depth of 90 m, it is abundant incoastal areas less than 30 m depth (Fischer andBianchi, 1984). The juveniles of this species migrateto estuaries and the adults return to the sea forbreeding.3SpeciesDistributionPenaeus indicus is an Indo-Pacific species(western and eastern Indian Ocean, North-west,western central and eastern central Pacific Ocean),reported from Australia, Bangladesh, China,Comoros, Djibouti, French Polynesia, Hong Kong,India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar,Malaysia, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique,Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Reunion,Seychelles, Somalia, Tahiti, Tanzania, Thailand andYemen. In Kenya it forms 79-90% of the shrimp catch(Brusher, 1974).In India this species is available all alongthe coasts but the occurrence is poor along theMaharashtra coast (Kunju, 1967a) and absent alongthe Gujarat coast. P. indicus has been reported earlierfrom Kandla (20.8%), Tuna-sangadh (15.6%) andLunei (48.8%) ) of Kutch coast (Ramamurthy, 1963a) and also from different landing centres (0.5-90%)of Kutch coast during 1962-63 (Deshmukh, 1975).Shaikhmahmud and Tembe (1960) have recordedconsiderably good numbers (12.6%) of this speciesin the prawn landings of Sassoon Docks, Mumbai.According to Kunju (1967), the Penaeus speciesavailable along these coasts is P. penicillatus whichhad earlier been described as a variety of P. indicus(Alcock, 1906) but subsequently has been raised tothe status of a separate species. Along the eastcoast it is available in good quantities up to Andhracoast and gradually gets replaced by P. merguiensisand P. penicillatus along the Orissa-West Bengalcoast. It is of great commercial value along thecoasts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra PradeshFull Text not available247

LarvalDevelopmentChapter 4Full Text not available

Handbook of Marine Prawns of IndiaFull Text not availableLarvae of Penaeus monodon366

Larval DevelopmentApart from Penaeus monodon, P. indicus,P. semisulcatus, Metapenaeus dobsoni, M. affinis,M. monoceros, M. brevicornis and Parapenaeopsisstylifera for which larval development studies havebeen successfully completed by CMFRI, the completelarval development of a number of species of penaeidprawns has been traced from eggs spawned in thelaboratory in many parts of the world. The larvalstages of Penaeus japonicus (Hudinaga, 1942)P. orientalis (Oka, 1967), P. latisulcatus (Shokita,1970), and Metapenaeus joyneri from Japan (Lee andLee, 1968), Penaeus monodon from Philippines(Villaluz et.al.,1969), Metapenaeus bennette (Morrisand Bennet, 1951), Penaeus esculentus(Fielder et.al.,1975) from Australia, Penaeus merguiensis andMetapenaeus monoceros (Raje and Ranade, 1972b)from India, Penaeus trisulcatus, Parapenaeuslongirostris and Sicyonia carinata (Heldt, 1938),from the Mediterranean sea and Penaeus setiferus(Heegaard, 1953), Penaeus duorarum (Dobkin, 1961),Penaeus aztecus (Cook and Murphy, 1971), andSicyonia brevirostris (Cook and Murphy, 1965) fromthe Gulf of Mexico have been described. A detailedstudy of the larval characters of the eight Indianpenaeid species presented in this Bulletin, with thedescriptions of the other species referred to above.A comparison has resulted in a clear understandingof the general pattern of development of themorphological features of the nauplius, protozoea,mysis and postlarval stages of the penaeid prawnsand has brought to light certain generic charactersby which the larvae belonging to the generaPenaeus, Metapenaeus and Parapenaeopsis couldbe identified. The earlier work of Cook (1966) on thegeneric characters of the penaeid larvae of the GulfLarval Development*of Mexico region does not cover the typically Indo-Pacific genera Metapenaeus and Parapeneopsiswhich are of great commercial importance in the latterregion. This lacuna was partly filled by the work ofHaq and Hassan (1975), who have described someof the generic characters of the larvae belonging tothe genera Penaeus, Metapenaeus andParapenaeopsis from Pakistan waters. However,during the present study the authors have foundadditional morphological features which appear tobe characteristic of these three genera. Further theyfound for the first time some characters by whicheven the nauplius stage of these three genera canbe distinguished. The larvae of different speciesbelonging to the same genus, however, are so similarthat specific identification of the larvae is notpossible, except for some stages of Metapenaeus.A summary of the observations on penaeid larvaldevelopment is presented here.Egg stageA very narrow perivitelline space (about15 in width) appears to be characteristic of the eggsof all the species of Penaeus described so far. Theeggs of Metapenaeus species (except Metapenaeusdobsoni) possess a narrow perivitelline space of 20to 30 in width. The eggs of M. dobsoni are peculiarin having a very wide perivitelline space which isabout 85 in width. The perivitelline space of theeggs of P. stylifera is 60 wide. The diameter of theyolk mass was more or less the same (0.22 - 0.24 mm)in all the eight species of penaeid eggs studied bytheauthors, the differences in the egg diameter beingdue to differences in the width of the perivitellinespace which develops only after fertilization. TheFull Text not available 4367

Identification ofpost larvaeChapter 5Full Text not available

Identification of post larvaeThe possibility of using the postlarvalabundance in brackish water areas to predict thesubsequent abundance of adult prawns in the seahas been discussed by Baxter (1963), Christmas etal.,1966), George (1963a), Berry & Baxter (1969) andRao (1972). For work of this nature the specificidentity of the postlarvae is essential, especially in amulti species fishery. This is also necessary forpostlarvae of P. setiferus which lack these spines.Mohamed et al., (1968) have described the firstpostlarval stage of P. indicus, M. monoceros,M. affinis and Parapenaeopsis stylifera and usedthe number of telsonic spine, number of rostralIdentification of post larvae*spines, presence or absence of long setae on thedistal lateral aspect of the 6 th abdominal segment,the presence or absence of posteromedian dorsalspine on the 5 th and 6 th abdominal segments and thegeneral body colour as criteria for identifying them.Subrahmanyam and Rao (1968) used the number ofchromatophores on the ventral side of the body(especially on the 6 th abdominal segment) and onselective stocking in prawn culture operations.Various criteria have been used by previousworkers for the identification of the postlarvalpenaeids. Williams (1959) found that the post-larvaethe antennular peduncle to identify the postlarvaeof P. indicus, P. monodon, and P. semisulcatus.Prawirodihardjo et al., (1975) have used thepigmentation of the uropod and telson to distinguishof Penaeus setiferus, P. duorarum and between the postlarva of P. monodon andP. aztecus could be distinguished on the basis of (a)the shape of A1 scale and (b) the extent of therostrum and the extent of the pereiopods in relationto the eye. Ringo and Zamoro (1968) found that thepresence of minute spines on the dorsal carina ofthe 6th abdominal segment in the postlarvae ofP. aztecus and P. duorarum is a taxonomic characterwhich could be used to separate them from theP. semisulcatus.In trying to identify the postlarvae foundin the brackish waters around Madras, it was foundthat the chromatophore pattern on the tail fanprovided a very reliable criterion for identifying theearly postlarval stages. The chromatophores werevisible even in material fixed in formalin for 15-20days if the specimens were kept in dark place awayfrom light. The pattern is more important than thecolour or number of chromatophores. On the basisof the chromatophore pattern on the tail fan thepost-larvae eight species of penaeids viz. Penaeusindicus, P. merguiensis, P. semisulcatus,Full Text not available5381

Prawn fisheriesContributors from CMFRI1. Taxonomy : E.V. RadhakrishnanJosileen Jose2. Fisheries2.1 Andhra Pradesh : G. Sudhakara Rao2.2 Gujarat : Joe K. KizhakudanA.P. Dineshbabu2.3 Karnataka : A.P. Dineshbabu2.4 Kerala : P.T. Sarada2.5 Maharashtra : V.D. Deshmukh2.6 Orissa : G. Maheswarudu2.7 Tamilnadu & Puducherry : M. Rajamani2.8 West Bengal : G. Maheswarudu2.9 Large trawler of the Northeast coast : G. Sudhakara Rao2.10 Non-penaeid prawns : V. D. Deshmukh2.11 Deep-sea prawns : G. NandakumarK.N. RajanJosileen JoseK. Chellapan2.12 Estuarine prawns3. Species: G. Sudhakara RaoA.P. DineshbabuP.T. SaradaJoe K. Kizhakudan3.1 Penaeus indicus : P.T. Sarada3.2 Penaeus monodon : G. Sudhakara Rao3.3. Penaeus semisulcatus : M. Rajamani3.4 Parapenaeopsis stylifera : P.T. Sarada3.5 Metapenaeus monoceros : G. Sudhakara Rao3.6 Metapenaeus dobsoni : S. Lakshmi Pillai3.7 Metapenaeus kutchensis : Joe K. KizhakudanA.P. DineshbabuFull Text not available4. Larval development : M.S. MuthuN.N. PillaiK.V. George5. Identification of post larvae : M.S. Muthu415

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