Penaeus monodon

Penaeus monodon was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1798. That name was overlooked for a long time, until 1949 when Lipke Holthuis clarified to which species it referred.[5] Holthuis also showed that P. monodon had to be the type species of the genus Penaeus.[5]

Females can reach about 33 cm (13 in) long, but are typically 25–30 cm (10–12 in) long and weigh 200–320 g (7–11 oz); males are slightly smaller at 20–25 cm (8–10 in) long and weighing 100–170 g (3.5–6.0 oz).[1] The carapace and abdomen are transversely banded with alternative red and white. The antennae are grayish brown. Brown pereiopods and pleopods are present with fringing setae in red.[6]

Its natural distribution is the Indo-Pacific, ranging from the eastern coast of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, as far as Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and northern Australia.[7]

It is an invasive species in the northern waters of the Gulf of Mexico[4] and the Atlantic Ocean off the southern US.[8]

Giant tiger prawn are suited to inhabit a multitude of places.[12] They mainly occur in Southeastern Asia, but are widely found.[12] Juvenile P. monodon are generally found in sandy estuaries and mangroves.[13] Once into adulthood the prawn move into deeper waters (0- 110 meters) and live on muddy or rocky bottoms.[13] The black tiger prawn has shown to be nocturnal in the wild.[14] They burrow into substrate during the day then come out at night to search for food and feed.[14] P. monodon typically feed on detritus, polychaete worms, and small crustaceans.[14] They also commence mating at night and can produce around 800,000 eggs.[12]

Penaeus monodon is the second-most widely cultured prawn species in the world, after only whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei.[1] In 2009, 770,000 tonnes were produced, with a total value of US$3,650,000,000.[1] P. monodon makes up nearly fifty percent of cultured shrimp alone.[15]

The Tiger prawn is popular to culture because of its tolerance to salinity and very quick growth rate.[9] However, they are very vulnerable to fungal, viral, and bacterial infections.[16] Diseases such as white-spot baculovirus and yellow-head virus have led to a great economic impact in shrimp industries around the globe.[17] They can receive transmitted diseases from other crustaceans such as the Australian red claw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus).[18] The Red claw crayfish is susceptible to the yellow head virus and has shown to transmit it to the Black tiger prawn in places like Thailand.[18]

P. monodon has been farmed throughout the world including areas such as West Africa, Hawaii, Tahiti and England.[10] For optimal growth, P. monodon is raised in waters between 28°C and 33°C. Characteristically for the Penaeus genus, P. monodon has a natural ability to survive and grow in a wide range of salinity.[19] Optimal salinity for the prawn is around 15-25 ppt.[19] Naturally P. monodon feed on mollusks, crustaceans, and polychaete worms.[20] While in a farm setting the shrimp are typically feed a compound diet which is produced in dried pellets.[20] By mixing the diet to have compound feeds and fresh feed the Black tiger shrimp showed to have better reproductive performance.[20]

In 2010, Greenpeace added Penaeus monodon to its seafood red list – "a list of fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries".[21] The reasons given by Greenpeace were "destruction of vast areas of mangroves in several countries, over-fishing of juvenile shrimp from the wild to supply farms, and significant human rights abuses".[21]

In an effort to understand whether DNA repair processes can protect crustaceans against infection, basic research was conducted to elucidate the repair mechanisms used by P. monodon.[22] It was found that repair of DNA double-strand breaks is predominantly carried out by accurate homologous recombinational repair. Another less accurate process, microhomology-mediated end joining is also used to repair such breaks.

• Macrobrachium rosenbergii, the giant freshwater prawn