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Species Fact Sheets

Penaeus merguiensis (De Man, 1888)

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Synonyms
Penaeus indicus merguiensis De Man, 1882

FAO Names
En - Banana prawn, Fr - Crevette banane, Sp - Langostino banana.
3Alpha Code: PBA Taxonomic Code: 2280100103

Scientific Name with Original Description

Penaeus merguiensis De Man, 1888, J.Linn.Soc.Lond.(Zool.), 22:287.

Geographical Distribution

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department

Fisheries and
Aquaculture Department

5000 km
2000 nmi

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Species distribution
Penaeus m er gui ensi s

Base layers
FAO f ishing ar eas

200 naut ical m iles ar cs

Indo-West Pacific: from the Persian Gulf to Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines. Indonesia, New Guinea,
New Caledonia and N. Australia (north of 29S).

Habitat and Biology

Depth 10 to 45 m.Bottom mud. Estuarine and marine.

Size
Maximum total length 240 mm (female).

Interest to Fisheries
The species is commercially of major importance in the Persian Gulf and in Pakistan (Longhurst,
1970:280,281; Tirmizi, in Litt.). In India this species has often been confused with Penaeus indicus so that its
present economic status is not quite accurately known, but Jones (1967: 1333) pointed out that it definitely
contributes to the commercial fishery along the Karwar coast of W. India. Kurian & Sebastian (1976:100)
reported that there is a small fishery for this species "in the middle region of east and west coasts" of India,
while "juveniles are fished from estuaries". it is not mentioned for Bangladesh by Ahmad (1957), so that it is
possible that a confusion with P. indicus has occurred here also. P. merguiensis is also important off the
northwestern coast of Malaya, and possibly the west coast of Thailand, and the Philippines (Longhurst,
1970:284-290). In Indonesia it is taken by trawlers off E. Sumatra, the south coast of Java, off Borneo and in
the Arafura Sea, being the dominant species there. In Australia it is the most important commercial species of
Queensland, and also in Western Australia it may become very important (Racek, 1955:222; 1957:12). In the
Gulf of Papua it is trawled for;
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department

the catch is frozen.It plays a role in pond culture in Thailand (Shigueno, 1975:120) and in Indonesia. The total
catch reported for this species to FAO for 1999 was 78 743 t. The countries with the largest catches were
Indonesia (65 230 t) and Thailand (9 200 t).
Global Capture Production for species (tonnes)
Source: FAO FishStat

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Penaeus merguiensis

Global Aquaculture Production for species (tonnes)

Source: FAO FishStat

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Penaeus merguiensis

Local Names
Pakistan : Jaira , Jiaro (used also for other species of Fenneropenaeus).
Malaysia : Udang kaki merah .
Indonesia : Udang putih .
Thailand : Kung chaebauy .
Hong Kong : Pak ha , White prawn .
Australia : Banana prawn , White prawn .

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department

Source of Information
FAO CATALOGUE Vol.1 - Shrimps and Prawns of the World. An Annotated Catalogue of Species of
Interest to Fisheries.L.B. Holthuis 1980. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No.125, Volume 1.

Bibliography
Kirkegaard, Tuma & Walker, 1970

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department