giant tiger prawn

Distribution Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

Saudi Red Sea: recorded but rare, 17 individuals (0.02% by number) in the fishery-independent trawl surveys off Jizan and Al Qunfudhah, October 2022 to September 2023.

Linking Biological Parameters to Fishery Management: Stock Assessment of Green Tiger Prawn, Penaeus semisulcatus De Haan, 1844 Along the Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia Results 3.1 confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified

General description

Maximum total length (TL) printed by the FAO sheet (1983): males 26.8 cm, females 33.7 cm; the sheet calls it the largest penaeid known. It is a maximum recorded total length, not a common size and not a measurement made in Saudi waters.

FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes: Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51), Penaeidae sheets Penaeus (Penaeus) monodon sheet: size confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Distribution

According to the FAO sheet (1983): within the area from south and east Africa to the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, the west coast of Madagascar, Mauritius and La Réunion, and from Pakistan to south India and Sri Lanka, extending east as far as China and Japan, the Philippines, New Guinea and Australia. A regional statement that does not name Saudi Arabia.

FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes: Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51), Penaeidae sheets Penaeus (Penaeus) monodon sheet: geographical distribution confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Morphology

According to the FAO identification sheet (western Indian Ocean, 1983): carapace smooth; rostrum with 7 or 8 teeth on the dorsal margin and 3 or 4 (rarely 2) on the ventral margin; gastrofrontal crest absent; fifth pereopod without an exopod. Colour: body green-grey to brown, sometimes reddish or bluish; abdomen with dark brown to dark grey and pale yellow dorsal transverse bands; antennae uniform pink-brown. A description for the western Indian Ocean (FAO Area 51), not a Saudi study.

FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes: Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51), Penaeidae sheets Penaeus (Penaeus) monodon sheet: distinctive characters confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Habitat and distribution

According to the FAO sheet (1983): found from the coast to about 150 m, occasionally deeper; the largest concentrations are fished in less than 60 m on mud or sand, sometimes mixed with shell fragments; juveniles are found in mangrove swamps, estuaries or backwaters; more easily available at night. A description for the western Indian Ocean (FAO Area 51), not a Saudi study.

FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes: Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51), Penaeidae sheets Penaeus (Penaeus) monodon sheet: geographical distribution and behaviour confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Study sample count Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

17

17 individuals of this species among the 103,758 shrimp (six species) counted in one trawl-catch study sample, counted by number. Sampled monthly from October 2022 to September 2023 off the ports of Jizan and Al Qunfudhah (108 hauls off each), by chartered industrial shrimp trawlers registered in the two ports; the catch was sorted on board and taken on ice to the laboratory. Gear: 40 mm diamond-mesh codend, night trawling, hauls of about three hours at around three knots, at depths of 10 to 40 m off Jizan and 10 to 30 m off Al Qunfudhah. The trawling grounds are predominantly sandy bottoms with scattered muddy patches (a description of the study grounds, given as context and not as a fact about the species). This value is a figure of that one sample: it is not population abundance, Saudi abundance, stock abundance, national prevalence, distribution, production or commercial importance.

Linking Biological Parameters to Fishery Management: Stock Assessment of Green Tiger Prawn, Penaeus semisulcatus De Haan, 1844 Along the Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia Results 3.1 (species composition, n = 103,758 individuals, shares by number) confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified

Share of the study sample Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

0.02 %

0.02% of the 103,758 shrimp (six species) counted in one trawl-catch study sample, by number of individuals. Sampled monthly from October 2022 to September 2023 off the ports of Jizan and Al Qunfudhah (108 hauls off each), by chartered industrial shrimp trawlers registered in the two ports; the catch was sorted on board and taken on ice to the laboratory. Gear: 40 mm diamond-mesh codend, night trawling, hauls of about three hours at around three knots, at depths of 10 to 40 m off Jizan and 10 to 30 m off Al Qunfudhah. The trawling grounds are predominantly sandy bottoms with scattered muddy patches (a description of the study grounds, given as context and not as a fact about the species). This value is a figure of that one sample: it is not population abundance, Saudi abundance, stock abundance, national prevalence, distribution, production or commercial importance.

Linking Biological Parameters to Fishery Management: Stock Assessment of Green Tiger Prawn, Penaeus semisulcatus De Haan, 1844 Along the Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia Results 3.1 (species composition, n = 103,758 individuals, shares by number) confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified