Kuruma prawn
| Marsupenaeus japonicus | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Family: | Penaeidae |
| Genus: |
Marsupenaeus Tirmizi, 1971 |
| Species: | M. japonicus |
| Binomial name | |
|
Marsupenaeus japonicus (Spence Bate, 1888) |
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| Synonyms | |
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| External identifiers for Marsupenaeus japonicus | |
|---|---|
| Encyclopedia of Life | 1022155 |
| ITIS | 551588 |
| NCBI | 27405 |
| WoRMS | 107102 |
| Also found in: SeaLifeBase | |
Marsupenaeus japonicus, known as the kuruma shrimp, kuruma prawn, or Japanese tiger prawn, is a species of prawn. It occurs naturally in bays and seas of the Indo-West Pacific, but has also reached the Mediterranean Sea as a Lessepsian migrant. It is one of the largest species of prawns, and is accordingly one of the most economically important species in the family.
Males of M. japonicus can reach a total length of 17 centimetres (6.7 in), while females may reach 27 cm (11 in) and a mass of 130 grams (4.6 oz), making it one of the largest species in the family Penaeidae. The body is pale, with brown bands across the back, while the pereiopods and pleopods (walking and swimming legs, respectively) are pale yellow near their bases, and blue near the tips. The rostrum bears 8–10 spines on the top, and 1–2 below.
M. japonicus lives in bays and inland seas, particularly where there are warm currents. It is nocturnal, remaining buried in the substrate during the day. Their predators include bony fishes and cartilaginous fishes.
When the sea temperature exceeds 20 °C (68 °F), spawning can begin. During copulation, the male transfers a spermatophore to the female, which she stores in a seminal receptacle. She travels to deep water, where she then releases around 700,000 eggs. These hatch as nauplii, and pass through a further 5 nauplius stages, 3 zoeae and 3 mysis stages by moulting before reaching the post-larval stage.
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