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HUWAT KSAFISH Fishes of Saudi Arabia Red Sea and Arabian Gulf An initiative of the HUWAT ecosystem
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green tiger prawn

Penaeus semisulcatus

De Haan, 1844

Penaeus semisulcatus, specimen MNHN-IU-2011-5741. A preserved specimen of the National Museum of Natural History, Paris (MNHN), so its colours are not those of the living animal. The photograph is not evidence of occurrence in Saudi waters.
Penaeus semisulcatus, specimen MNHN-IU-2011-5741. A preserved specimen of the National Museum of Natural History, Paris (MNHN), so its colours are not those of the living animal. The photograph is not evidence of occurrence in Saudi waters. © Chan T. Y. & Lin C. W.; MNHN Paris, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

Species PENAEIDAE Shrimp accepted scientific name

Quick facts

Saudi context in this record

Pending human review — unverified local names

Names the registry holds that a reviewer has not verified. Shown for information; they are not approved names and should not be cited as such.

Saudi Arabia أم نعيرة · روبيان النمر الأخضر

Occurrence records

The encyclopedia holds no published occurrence record for this taxon in Saudi waters yet.

Measurements and characters

Carapace length (observed range) Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

2.03 – 56.14 mm

females, mean 30.54 sd 6.40; period: October 2022 to September 2023; where: Jizan and Al Qunfudhah

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 Table 1 (Results 3.3) confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Carapace length (observed range) Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

2.17 – 46.91 mm

males, mean 24.93 sd 3.27; period: October 2022 to September 2023; where: Jizan and Al Qunfudhah

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 Table 1 (Results 3.3) confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Size at first maturity Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

22.09 mm

females, 95 percent interval 22.01 to 22.18; period: October 2022 to September 2023; where: Jizan and Al Qunfudhah

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 Figure 3 (Results 3.4) confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Spawning potential ratio Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

0.19

spawning stock biomass at 19 percent of unexploited; period: October 2022 to September 2023; where: Jizan and Al Qunfudhah

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 Figure 7 (Results 3.6) confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Sex ratio Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

1 female to 1.06 males, a slight but significant male predominance

period: October 2022 to September 2023; where: Jizan and Al Qunfudhah

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 3.2 confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Spawning period Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

Year-round, with a pronounced peak from February to July 2023 and 57 percent in March 2023

period: October 2022 to September 2023; where: Jizan and Al Qunfudhah

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 Figure 2 (Results 3.2) confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Recruitment period Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

Carapace lengths of 2 to 10 mm were encountered only in December 2022

period: October 2022 to September 2023; where: Jizan and Al Qunfudhah

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 3.3 confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Distribution Saudi territorial waters, Arabian Gulf

Saudi Arabian Gulf coast: a study published in 2019 examined the population dynamics of the green tiger prawn (Penaeus semisulcatus) at Dareen from May 2013 to April 2014; the maximum carapace length (CL) in the sample was 38 mm for males and 36.67 mm for females. An observed maximum in one named sample, not the species’ maximum length.

Population dynamics of the green tiger prawn, Penaeus semisulcatus de Haan, 1844 in the Saudi coast of the Arabian Gulf Abstract confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

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 Tarut Bay (Ras Tanura) in 1973 determined by Isabel Pérez Farfante, Manifa in 1971 and Al Khobar in 1948. Museum specimen records, not an estimate of abundance.

GBIF occurrence 1320533480: Penaeus semisulcatus, Tarut Bay (Ras Tanura), 1973, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) Occurrence record confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

GBIF occurrence 1318776411: Penaeus semisulcatus, Manifa, 1971, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) Occurrence record confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

GBIF occurrence 1322928011: Penaeus semisulcatus, Al Khobar, 1948, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) Occurrence record 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 5 to 8 teeth on the dorsal margin and 2 to 4 on the ventral margin; postrostral crest almost reaching the posterior margin of the carapace, with a distinct median groove; gastrofrontal crest absent; fifth pereopod with an exopod. Colour: body pale brown, sometimes greenish; carapace often with two yellow-cream dorsal transverse bands; abdomen with brown-grey and pale yellow dorsal transverse bands; antennae banded white and 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) semisulcatus 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): lives on the continental shelf from the coast to about 130 m, most abundant in less than 60 m on mud, sandy-mud or sandy-grit; forms small shoals; mostly nocturnal, burying in the substrate by day; mostly fished 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) semisulcatus sheet: geographical distribution and behaviour confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

General description

Maximum total length (TL) printed by the FAO sheet (1983): males 18 cm, females 23 cm. It is a maximum recorded total length, not a common size and not a measurement made in Saudi waters; the Saudi measurements on this page are carapace lengths and are shown separately.

FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes: Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51), Penaeidae sheets Penaeus (Penaeus) semisulcatus 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 India and Sri Lanka, including the Red Sea, the “Gulf” and western Madagascar, and further east as far as Korea, Japan, the Philippines, New Guinea and northern Australia; it has entered the eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. 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) semisulcatus sheet: geographical distribution confidence: scientifically documented verification: verified the evidence is a rendering of what the locator holds, not a verbatim quotation

Share of the study sample Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

83 %

83% 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

Study sample count Saudi territorial waters, Red Sea

85909

85,909 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

Names

English common names

green tiger prawn · zebra prawn

Local names — Saudi Arabia

  • أم نعيرة Local name draft
  • روبيان النمر الأخضر Common Arabic name draft

Classification

PenaeusGenus PENAEIDAEFamily DecapodaOrder MalacostracaClass ArthropodaPhylum AnimaliaKingdom

External identifiers
  • WoRMS AphiaID: 107112 — World Register of Marine Species
  • WoRMS AphiaID: 1809237 — World Register of Marine Species

Conservation

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 →

Others in this family

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.

Scientific sources

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 (2025). DOI 10.3390/biology15010008
Population dynamics of the green tiger prawn, Penaeus semisulcatus de Haan, 1844 in the Saudi coast of the Arabian Gulf (2019). DOI 10.18805/ijar.B-1056
World Register of Marine Species (2026). DOI 10.14284/170
An Assessment and Management of Green Tiger Shrimp (Penaeus semisulcatus) Fishery in the Jazan Area (Red Sea, Saudi Arabia) (2005). DOI 10.4197/mar.16-1.8
Fisheries, Biology and Stock Assessment of Green Tiger Shrimp Penaeus semisulcatus "De Haan, 1844" in the Saudi Arabia Coast on the Arabian Gulf (2021).
FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes: Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51), Penaeidae sheets (1983).
GBIF occurrence 1320533480: Penaeus semisulcatus, Tarut Bay (Ras Tanura), 1973, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) (1973).
GBIF occurrence 1318776411: Penaeus semisulcatus, Manifa, 1971, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) (1971).
GBIF occurrence 1322928011: Penaeus semisulcatus, Al Khobar, 1948, specimen of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM) (1948).
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.

Record last modified: 2026-10-16

This record in the public API