Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification -

SHORT DESCRIPTION High rostral crest, rostrum armed with 6-7 dorsal teeth, 3-5 ventral teeth; adrostral carina short of the epigastric tooth; without hepatic carina and gastrofrontal carina, sixth abdominal somite bearing three cicatrices; telson unarmed; 3rd maxilliped with dactylus half the length of propodus in adult males, thelycum closed, lateral plates rounded, meeting along midline. color : light olive-greyish, darker rostral crest. common size : maximum total length 20 cm males, 24 cm females. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Distinguished from the other penaeid prawns in the Mediterranean in its color pattern, and the high rostral crest. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Males reach sexual maturity at about 20 mm carapace length, females at about 30 mm CL. Adult shrimps may aggregate in large shoals, mainly during spawning season. habitat : found on muddy and sandy bottoms, mostly at depths of 10-45 m.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Bay of Iskenderun, Turkey, 2006. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Indo-West Pacific Ocean, from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, to New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji (Pérez Farfante and Kensley, 1997). Mediterranean : Bay of Iskenderun, Turkey (Özcan et al., 2006). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Single record. speculated reasons for success : unknown. MODE OF INTRODUCTION Escaped or was inadvertently released from a nearby aquaculture facility. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS The species is commercially of major importance in the Persian Gulf and in Pakistan (Longhurst, 1970; Holthuis, 1980: 43). It is raised in extensive ponds in southeast Asia, and in semi-extensive ponds in Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, and elsewhere.

KEY REFERENCES Holthuis L.B., 1980. FAO Species Catalogue. Volume 1. Shrimps and Prawns of the World. An annotated catalogue of species of interest to fisheries. FAO Fisheries Synopsis,125(1): 1-271. Kirkegaard I., Tuma D. J. and RH. Walker, 1970. Synopsis of biological data on the Banana prawn Penaeus merguiensis de Man, 1888. CSIRO Fisheries and Oceanography, Fisheries Synopsis, 8: 42 p. Pérez Farfante I. and B. Kensley, 1997. Penaeoid and sergestoid shrimps and prawns of the world, keys and diagnoses for the families and genera. Mémoires du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, 175: 1-233.   Özcan T., B.S. Galil, K. Bakır and T. Katağan, 2006. The first record of the banana prawn Fenneropenaeus merguiensis (De Man, 1888) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Penaeidae) from the Mediterranean Sea . Aquatic Invasions, 1(4): 286-288 [e-journal]. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: October 2008 ©ciesm 2002