The encyclopedia holds no published occurrence record for this taxon in Saudi waters yet.
No local name is recorded for it in a Saudi scope either.
Measurements and characters
Distribution
Saudi territorial waters, Arabian Gulf
Saudi Arabian Gulf coast: preserved specimens held by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) and published through GBIF, among them Manifa Bay (1982), Oqair Bay (1974), Manifa (1971). The GBIF records give Isabel Pérez Farfante as the determiner. Museum specimen records: not an estimate of abundance and not a statement about the species today.
According to the FAO identification sheet (western Indian Ocean, 1983): generally almost the entire body pubescent (rarely partly or completely hairless); rostrum with 8 to 11 teeth along the entire dorsal margin, slightly sinuous; telson armed only with spinules; an ischial spine on the first pereopod. Colour: body pale greenish to pale pinkish, sometimes green-bluish or pink-brownish, with green or red-brown specks; antennae red. A description for the western Indian Ocean (FAO Area 51), not a Saudi study.
According to the FAO sheet (1983): found from the coast to depths of about 55 m (occasionally deeper, to 90 m), mainly on mud or sandy-mud; juveniles live in estuaries and backwaters. A description for the western Indian Ocean (FAO Area 51), not a Saudi study.
According to the FAO sheet (1983): within the area it occurs in the “Gulf” and the Arabian Sea from the Gulf of Oman to south India, and in Sri Lanka; further east as far as the Philippines and Taiwan Island. A regional statement; the Saudi record of the species is the specimens named above.
Accepted name in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS): Metapenaeus affinis (H. Milne Edwards, 1837), an accepted species in its own right and not a synonym of Metapenaeus monoceros.
World Register of Marine SpeciesAphiaRecordsByName, retrieved 17 October 2026confidence: scientifically documentedverification: verifiedthe evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation
Names
The encyclopedia holds no common names for this taxon.
No governed conservation assessment is published for this taxon. The absence of a published assessment is not an assessment of low concern.
Distribution
The encyclopedia holds no published scientific distribution records for this taxon. The distribution statements among the facts above are quoted from the sources cited beside them; they are not distribution records.
This section shows source-backed scientific distribution only. Community observations are not listed here and no scientific distribution is inferred from them.
Fishing and seasons
The shrimp fishing seasons and bans published in the encyclopedia belong to the fishery (wild-caught marine shrimp on a given coast in a given year); they are not a biological property of this species and not its spawning season. Find them with their area, year and source on the shrimp page.
The season tables →
Taxa of the same family. That is a taxonomic relationship, not a statement of resemblance; the encyclopedia holds no diagnostic characters or lookalike relations yet.
Information not yet documented in this record
These fields exist in the encyclopedia’s model and have not been imported for this taxon yet. Their absence describes the record, not the animal.
Habitat
Depth range
Maximum length
Maximum weight
Size at first maturity
Spawning period
Fishing season
Scientific sources
World Register of Marine Species (2026).
DOI 10.14284/170
FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes: Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51), Penaeidae sheets (1983).
GBIF occurrence 1322815946: Metapenaeus affinis, Manifa Bay, 1982, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) (1982).
GBIF occurrence 1319228461: Metapenaeus affinis, Oqair Bay, 1974, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) (1974).
GBIF occurrence 1318200524: Metapenaeus affinis, Manifa, 1971, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) (1971).
The scientific sources above are the ones cited for the facts, names and identifiers on this page. The platform and founder attribution in the footer is not a scientific source. Community contributions appear with their names and review status. The verification shown beside a value means the register checked the value against its cited source; it is not a scientific approval and not an independent peer review.
