The eastern king prawn is an edible
dendrobranch prawn endemic to eastern Australia. Its scientific name is ''Melicertus plebejus'' or ''Penaeus plebejus''. It is caught by commercial and recreational fishers for human food.
Names
Eastern king prawns are marketed in eastern Australia as "king prawns" without qualification. In southeast
Queensland, they may also be called
Mooloolabah prawns.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (
FAO) uses French and Spanish names that are direct translations of "eastern royal prawn": , . The FAO English name is "Eastern king prawn".
Taxonomy and systematics
The species was first formally described by Wilhelm Hess in 1865, named ''Penaeus plebejus'' (type locality Sydney).
It was also described as ''Penaeus canaliculatus'' var. ''australiensis'' by
Charles Spence Bate (1888).
Waldo L. Schmitt
Waldo LaSalle Schmitt (June 25, 1887 – August 5, 1977) was an American biologist born in Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1922. In 1948, he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the Uni ...
(1926) described a separate species ''Penaeus maccullochi'' that was said to differ from ''P. plebejus'' in the nature of it carapace grooves;
they were subsequently considered to be the same species.
In 1934,
Martin Burkenroad
Martin David Burkenroad (March 20, 1910 – January 12, 1986) was an American marine biologist. He specialized in decapod crustaceans and fisheries science.
Biography
Burkenroad was born in New Orleans in 1910 as the only child of coffee import ...
separated the grooved-carapace species (including ''P. plebejus'') into a separate sub-genus ''Penaeus (Melicertus)''. Subsequent authors from 1949 to 1972 split off additional subgenera. In 1997,
Pérez Farfante & Kensley promoted the six subgenera to genus level, an approach that was subsequently followed by some authors but not others.
Based on molecular sequences of ribosomal and nuclear genes, Ma, Chan, and Chu (2011) found that ''Melicertus'' with ''Marsupenaeus'' formed a
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
separate from the other (sub)genera of ''Penaeus'' . However, due to the lack of morphological features that distinguish the clades (synapomorphies), they argued against creating two or three genera, and proposed restoring all the species into a single large ''Penaeus'' genus.
Genetically, ''M. plebejus'' is most closely related to the western king prawns, ''M. latisculatus'' and ''M. (lat.) hathor''.
As at 2022, the name ''Penaeus plebejus'' is treated as "accepted" by checklists such as the World Register of Marine Species.
However, ''Melicertus plebejus'' is common in recent scientific literature, so when seeking information it is necessary to search for both names.
Description
A medium to large prawn, specimens are commonly 10–21 cm total length and 40–50 g; they may grow up to 30 cm.
They have a single tooth on the ventral edge of the rostrum,
and 10–11 on the dorsal edge.
Uncooked, they are light coral pink, with fine dark reddish-brown lines along the crests of the rostrum, carapace, and 5th to 7th tail segments. The distal part of the tail fan is pigmented blue to purple, and there can be slight blue pigmentation on the upper part of the walking legs above the "knees". The outer face of the swimming legs is whitish-pink, sometimes with a bluish tinge. Eyes are patterned black and dark tan.
The eastern king prawn is similar in form and colour to the western king prawn.
The latter has more blue colour on the upper legs. They can be difficult to tell apart, and are usually distinguished based on location.
Distribution and habitat
Juveniles inhabit
estuaries, especially seagrass beds. Adults are found in coastal and estuarine waters,
at depths up to 220 m.
They are found along the temperate to subtropical east coast of Australia from
Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...
and north-east Tasmania in the south to
Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...
in the north.
Hexham
Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...
Swamp on the
Hunter River is considered by fishermen to have previously been a major nursery for eastern king prawns. After construction of floodgates in the 1970s, prawn stocks declined noticeably as the swamp dried out.
Fisheries
Eastern king prawns are wild-caught, particularly off the coasts of New South Wales and Queensland. They are harvested "by the dark of the moon" from mid-summer to winter using
demersal
The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...
otter trawling
Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towin ...
.
From 2011 to 2019, the annual catch of eastern king prawns varied between 2.7 and 3.5 kt. The maximum sustainable yield has been estimated a 2.4 kt.
The export code for "Prawn – Eastern King" is ''PWJ''.
CAAB code for the species, used in catch reporting and fisheries management, is .
Notes
References
External links
* Photos, and video showing burrowing and locomotion, at Museums Victori
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q6491640, from2=Q63710034
Penaeidae
Crustaceans of Australia
Edible crustaceans