Penaeus monodon
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| Penaeus monodon | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Penaeus monodon Fabricius, 1798 |
Penaeus monodon (common names include giant tiger prawn, black tiger prawn, leader prawn, sugpo and grass prawn) is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food. The natural distribution is Indo-West-Pacific, ranging from the eastern coast of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, as far as South-east Asia, and the Sea of Japan. They can also be found in eastern Australia, and a small number have colonised the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Further invasive populations have become established in Hawaii and the Atlantic coast of the USA (Florida, Georgia and South Carolina).
Both sexes reach approximately 36 cm long, and females can weigh up to 650 g, making it the world's largest species of prawn.
P. monodon is the most widely cultured prawn species in the world, although it is gradually losing ground to the whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Over 900,000 tonnes are consumed annually, two-thirds of it coming from farming, chiefly in south-east Asia.
