Morphological Characters for Inshore Penaeid prawns from Indian Waters

Penaeid prawns are distributed all along the Indian coast and inhabit inshore or offshore waters. They have a general life span of 2 to 2.5 years, maturing mostly between 6 – 8 months. They spawn in oceanic waters but the large number of eggs released by them develop through different stages and drift to estuaries. Here they develop into juvenile prawns. From the estuaries, they move to the sea to mature and spawn, and complete their life cycle. Most of the penaeid prawns spawn throughout their life. They are bisexual and mature females are larger than males. Petasma is the copulatory organ in males formed between the first pair of pleopods or swimming appendage and in females the genitalia termed thelycum consisting of the modifications of the posterior two or sometime three thoracic sternites, for the transfer or storage of sperms