Penaeus indicus
Scientific Name:-
Penaeus indicusCommon Name:-
Indian prawn
Malayalam Name:-
Naran
Category:-
Prawns
Status:-
Least Concern
Description:-
Body pale pink to yellowish, semi-translucent, rostral and midrostral crests brown, pereopods yellowish, pleopods pink to red, distal part of uropod red, fringe of setae red. Carapace smooth, 7-9 dorsal teeth and 3-5 ventral teeth; blade of rostrum convex or high according to size, adrostral crest and groove extending beyond epigastric tooth, shallow groove, postrostral crest ending distinctly before posterior margin of carapace;no gastrofrontal and hepatic crests, gastro orbital crest extending over middle third of distance between hepatic spine and orbital margin, in adult males dactyl of third maxilliped much longer than propodus, petasma with very short distomedian projections, not reaching distal margin of costae. Thelycum with lateral plates and median margin forming tumid lips, anterior process slightly concave, rounded distally, posterior process ill-calcified, almost completely inserted between lateral plates.
Remark:-
A very common species in the coastal waters of Kerala. Listed by Radhakrishnan et al. (2012). It has a life span of 18 months. After hatching free swimming nauplii larvae passes through protozoea, mysis and then to post larval stage which resembles the adult prawn. The post larvae migrate to the estuaries, feed and grow until they attain a length of 110–120 mm and these sub adults return to the sea and get recruited into fishery. Maximum total length 184 mm (male), 228 mm (female) usually much smaller (170 mm); maximum carapace length 56 mm. Commercially valuable and cultured in Kerala.
Habitat:-
Shelf areas from the coastline to depths of about 90m, abundant in shallow waters less than 30 m on sand or mud young migrate to estuaries.
Synonyms:-
Fenneropenaeus indicus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837 [in Milne Edwards, 1834-1840])
Palaemon longicornis Olivier, 1811
Penaeus indicus longirostris De Man, 1892
References:-
Fransen, C.; De Grave, S. (2014). Penaeus indicus H. Milne Edwards, 1837. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=210375 on 2015-03-10
Radhakrishnan, E. V.. V. D. Deshmukh, G. Maheswarudu, Jose Josileen, A. P., Dineshbabu, K. K. Philipose, P. T. Sarada, S. Lakshmi Pillai, K. N. Saleela, Rekhadevi Chakraborty, Gyanaranjan Dash, C.K. Sajeev, P. Thirumilu, B. Sridhara, Y Muniyappa, A.D.Sawant, Narayan G Vaidya, R. Dias Johny, J. B. Verma, P.K.Baby, C. Unnikrishnan, N. P. Ramachandran, A. Vairamani, A. Palanichamy, M. Radhakrishnan and B. Raju. (2012). Prawn fauna (Crustacea: Decapoda) of India - An annotated checklist of the Penaeoid, Sergestoid, Stenopodid and Caridean prawns. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. India, 54 (1): 50-72.