1.

Black Tiger Prawn

The black tiger prawn is a fast-growing tropical to subtropical species suited to warm brackish waters. It occurs in commercial quantities along the Queensland coast between Townsville and Cooktown. The species occurs in the coastal waters of Queensland and can grow quickly under a wide range of salinities. Maximum growth rates are achieved in 15 to 20 parts per thousand (ppt) salinity - seawater is normally 35 ppt. Prawns can survive in zero salinity (freshwater) for short periods. As they are a tropical prawn their best growth rates occur when water temperatures are 25C to 30C. Feeding stops at around 20C and death will occur around 14C to 15C. This temperature range limits production to one crop during summer in areas south of Mackay and two crops between Cardwell and Cooktown, provided good management, controlled stocking rates and selective harvesting are in place. The higher the stocking densities the slower the growth rates. With water temperatures above 24C prawns should reach 30 to 35 grams each in 120 to 150 days. Prawns are normally grown in purpose-built earthen ponds adjacent to the estuarine parts of river systems. Most ponds are about one hectare in size and have a gently sloping bottom to allow for drain harvesting of the prawns and full draining for a dry-out period between crops. Pond depths vary from 1.5 to 2.0 metres. Prawn larvae are produced in hatcheries which use wild caught spawners or broodstock collected mainly from the coastal waters between Cooktown and Innisfail. The majority of these spawners are gonadally mature and when they are transferred to the hatchery they either spawn spontaneously or are induced through the use of eyestalk ablation. Each spawner will produce between 200,000 and 500,000 eggs. The eggs are hatched and pass through a number of larval stages until they reach the post larvae (PL) stage. The PLs are normally sold to the growout farms for stocking ponds when they are 15 to 20 days old. The quality of the PLs will vary between spawners and the time of the year the spawners are collected. Between harvests, ponds are dried out and accumulated sediments from the previous crop are removed. These sediments contain organic matter (dead plankton, faeces, uneaten food and old moults) and mineral matter (soil particles eroded from pond walls by aeration). Prior to filling, the ponds are limed to encourage plankton growth and minimise disease problems. The ponds are filled through screened inlets, fertilised with both organic and inorganic fertilisers and allowed to stand for 7-10 days to allow the plankton to develop.

Ponds are stocked with PLs at rates varying from 25 to 40 per square metre. The PLs are weaned from plankton to manufactured feed over the first four weeks. Prawns are fed 3-4 times per day with the last feed being given close to dark. Feed is blown into the pond using an engine driven blower. Consumption is measured at each feed by using feed trays that are submerged along the pond edges. Growth rates are monitored via weekly sampling of the prawns. This feed management enables farms to minimise feed wastage and maintain good feed conversion rates. Feed conversion ratios (kg of feed to produce one kilogram of prawns) range from 1.6:1 to 2.2:1. Stable pond conditions and good water quality are necessary to maximise survival and growth rates. Paddle wheels and aspirators are normally used for aeration. The aeration generates a current causing the sediments to accumulate in the centre of the pond. This maintains a clean feeding area around the pond edge. As the quantity of prawns (biomass) increases the level of aeration required increases to maintain the levels of dissolved oxygen in the water. A minimum of one kilowatt of aeration is required for each tonne of prawns in the pond. Exchanging water controls the density of algal blooms and ammonia levels in the ponds. Water exchange is minimised to help maintain stable water conditions. Wastewater is removed from the bottom of the pond and drained into sedimentation or treatment ponds before being reused or released to the environment. Crops are normally ready for harvest in 120 to 150 days, however the time frame will depend on stocking rates and water temperature. Ponds are sometimes partially harvested using traps or seine nets but more often a drain harvest is used. The water is released through the outlet structure which has a net fitted over the pipe and the prawns are then caught in this net. Partial harvests may be used early in the season to reduce the density of prawns in the pond and allow the prawns remaining to grow to a larger size. Normally prawns are harvested when they are 25 to 35 grams each. Prawns are washed, graded and generally cooked before marketing. Some prawns are sold green and others are individually quick-frozen for storage and sale at a later date.

2. Whiteleg Shrimp

Whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei, formerly Penaeus vannamei), also known as Pacific white shrimp, is a variety of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food. Litopenaeus vannamei grows to a maximum length of 230 millimetres (9.1 in), with acarapace length of 90 mm (3.5 in). Adults

live in the ocean, at depths of up to 72 metres (236 ft), while juveniles live in estuaries. The rostrum is moderately long, with 710 teeth on the dorsal side and 24 teeth on the ventral side. Whiteleg shrimp are native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, from the Mexican state of Sonoraas far south as northern Peru. It is restricted to areas where the water temperature remains above 20 C (68 F) throughout the year. During the 20th century, L. vannamei was an important species for Mexican in shore fishermen, as well as for trawlers further offshore. In the late 20th century, the wild fishery was overtaken by the use of aquaculture; this began in 1973 in Florida using prawns captured in Panama. In Latin America, the culture of L. vannamei showed peaks of production during the warm El Nio years, and reduced production during the cooler La Nia years, due to the effects of disease. Production ofL. vannamei is limited by its susceptibility to various diseases, including white spot syndrome, Taura syndrome, infectious hypodermal and haematopoietic necrosis, baculoviral midgut gland necrosis and Vibrio infections. By 2004, global production of L. vannameiapproached 1,116,000 t, and exceeded that of Penaeus monodon. In 2010, Greenpeace International has added the whiteleg shrimp to its seafood red list. "The Greenpeace International seafood red list is a list of fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced fromunsustainable fisheries." The reasons given by Greenpeace were "destruction of vast areas of mangroves in several countries, over-fishing of juvenile shrimp from the wild to supply shrimp farms, and significant human rights abuses".
3. Banana Prawn

Available both wild-caught and farmed, these are mostly marine dwelling Prawns with juveniles sometimes found in sheltered estuaries and rivers, usually among mangroves. They are found over muddy and sandy bottoms in coastal waters to depths of 90m (Redlegs preferring slightly deeper water than Whites). Found around the northern coast of Australia from the NSW-Queensland border to Shark Bay in WA, they are mainly caught by trawlers between Exmouth Gulf, WA and Brisbane, with the bulk of the catch coming from the Gulf of Carpentaria. They are translucent to yellow in colour with tiny dark spots. The 2 species differ in leg colour: Whites have cream to yellow legs and Redlegs have pink or red legs. Banana Prawns are large, white prawns. They have poorly defined gastro-orbital ridge and high toothed rostral crest. Their body is pale yellow or translucent and speckled with reddish brown dots.

Banana Prawns inhabit tropical and subtropical waters. Banana prawns inhabit coastal waters from shallow estuaries and intertidal areas to a maximum depth of 45 metres. They live in turbid waters for most of their lives, over muddy substrates in estuaries and muddy sands offshore. Juveniles inhabit small creeks and rivers in a sheltered mangrove environment in waters ranging from almost fresh to high salinity. Adult banana prawns inhabit medium and low energy coastlines, although they can withstand high energy cyclonic events. In northern Australia, schools of adults frequently occur in depths between 16m and 25m. They also form aggregations which in some areas become extremely dense and are known as "boils" Banana Prawns can become sexually mature at about 6 months of age. Spawning occurs throughout all of the shallow coastal zone inhabited by adults and older adults may migrate shorewards at the time of spawning. Mating occurs during moulting. Eggs are shed into the water prior to the moult and are fertilised externally by sperm from the male.

4. Indian Prawn

The Indian prawn, Fenneropenaeus indicus (formerly Penaeus indicus), is one of the major commercial prawn species of the world. It is found in the Indo-West Pacific from eastern and southeastern Africa, through India, Malaysia and Indonesia to southern China and northernAustralia. F. indicus is known by many common names around the world, including Indian white prawn, Tugela prawn, white prawn, banana prawn, Indian banana prawn and red leg banana prawn, some of which may also apply to the related species Fenneropenaeus merguiensis. The name white shrimp may also refer to other species. F. indicus is a marine decapod with estuarine juveniles. It prefers mud or sandy mud at depths of 290 metres (7295 ft). It grows to 228 millimetres (9 in) and has a life span of 18 months. After hatching free swimming nauplii are obtained which further 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 110120 mm and these sub adults return to the sea and get recruited into fishery. It is also commonly used in shrimp farming. The worlds production of shrimp is about 6 million tones of which approximately 3.4 million tones is contributed by capture fisheries and 2.4 tonnes by aquaculture. China and four other Asian countries including India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand together account for 55% of the capture fisheries. Among the shrimp, the contribution of F. indicus to global fisheries was around 2.4%, and to global farmed shrimp production was 1.2% in 2005. Currently F. indicusis mainly cultured in Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Islamic Republic of Iran and India. Saudi Arabia was the largest producer in 2005 at nearly 11,300 tonnes with Vietnam not far behind with 10,000 tonnes. In

India F. indicus farming declined from 5200 tonnes in 2000 to 1100 tonnes in 2005 due to preference of farmers for P. monodon. Intensification of cultured shrimp is limited by seed supply. The production of seeds in hatcheries depends on the availability of broodstock and quality of spawners. Spawners for seed production can be obtained from the wild or can be developed by induced maturation in hatcheries. Matured individuals can be collected from the wild during their peak spawning seasons in March/April and July/August in the tropics. A temperature range of 2731 C (8188 F) and salinity of 3035 is ideal for spawning. Although hatcheries in the developing countries still depend on wild seed, maturation can be induced by eyestalk ablation technique where eyestalks of females are unilaterally ablated to stimulate endocrine activity. The ablated females spawn after 4 days, with a peak observed at days 56. However it is expensive to raise spawners in captivity and ablated shrimps result in less hardy fry with low survival rate. Even though the fecundity of the ablated females may not differ significantly, the hatch rates of ablated females was found to be markedly less (37.8% to 58.1%) than that of unablated females (69.2%). It is also found that wild females are more fecund per unit weight than ablated females. However quantitatively the number of spawns, eggs and nauplii produced by ablated females is ten, eight and six times respectively that of unablated females. The size of females used for broodstock and spawning should preferably be above be 150 millimetres (5.9 in) and males above 140 mm (5.5 in), as they mature at approximately 148 mm (5.8 in) and 128 mm (5.0 in) respectively. Circular tanks of 25 tonnes capacity are used to rear larvae from nauplius to mysis stage. The salinity of water is maintained at around 32 and pH at 8.2. Feed is not provided to nauplius as it is a non-feeding stage. The protozoea stage is supplied with a mixed culture of diatoms dominated by Chaetoceros spp. or Skeletonema spp. at a concentration on around 30,000 to 40,000 cells per ml. The best algal density promoting highest survival, growth and fastest larval development is around 6070 cells per l. From the mysis stage they are also fed with artemia nauplii and egg-prawncustard mix. Post larval rearing can be continued in the same tank and post-larvae (PL) are fed with minced mussel meat, mantis shrimp powder or variety of other fresh feeds of particle size 2001000 m till they reach PL-20 (day 20 of post-larva). After PL-20 stage they can be stocked directly into grow-out ponds without acclimatization.

5. Kuruma Prawn

Distribution of Kuruma Prawn is an important IndoWest Pacific species ranging widely from South Africa into the Red Sea through the entire Malay Archipelago to Korea, Japan and Northern Australia, where it is found in the Northern Territory, the Gulf of Carpentaria and North Queensland. The species has migrated through the Suez

Canal into the Mediterranean and is now caught off Southern Turkey. It is a marine shrimp, living on sandy mud and sand bottoms at depths up to 90 meters (about 300 feet). This species is one of most important species in Japan and is a major species in the South China Sea. It provides regular catches in the Philippines and in East Africa. It is highly regarded in Japan, where it is used head-on fresh as well as in more usual processed forms. This shrimp is very similar to P. canaliculatus, the witch prawn. Smooth, shiny carapace without hairs. Rostrum is almost horizontal but curves down very slightly, and has 8-10 dorsal teeth and usually a single ventral tooth. Adostral and median grooves reach the posterior margin of the carapace. Adostral groove is narrower than the postrostral ridge. The anterior plate of the thelycm is rounded at the apex in females. Telson has moveable lateral spines. The colour of Kuruma Prawn are brown bands (usually 10 or more) are especially conspicuous on the abdomen, but also apparent on the dorsal part of the carapace, legs and uropods. Legs are red and the telson and uropods are tinged with red, blue and yellow.