Species Report Metapenaeus Monoceros (Speckled Shrimp) AFFILIATION CRUSTACEANS

Mediterranean invasive species factsheet www.iucn-medmis.org

Species report Metapenaeus monoceros (Speckled shrimp) AFFILIATION CRUSTACEANS

SCIENTIFIC NAME AND COMMON NAME REPORTS Metapenaeus monoceros 2

Key Identifying Features

The body is covered with short hairs and is pale grey speckled with dark brown spots. The antennae are orange-red. The maximum length of adult males is 15 cm and of females 20 cm. The rostrum has 9–12 teeth on the upper margin. Males are easily distinguished from other shrimps in bearing a prominent curved spine on their fifth walking leg. The first and third walking legs bear a basal spine. Identification and Habitat

The speckled shrimp is found to a depth of 170 m, commonly 10–30 m, on sandy or sandy-mud bottoms.

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Reproduction

Spawning occurs twice a year, with the first peak in May–June and the second in October–November in Tunisia, and in May and July–October in Egypt. In Tunisia, the size for males to reach sexual maturity is 7.6 cm and for females 12.2 cm, although the smallest mature specimen found in Egyptian waters was 9.5 cm. The larvae can be transported over long distances, a possible means of new introductions.

Similar Species

The Mediterranean shrimp Melicertus kerathurus lacks the curved spine on the fifth walking leg in males and its carapace is hairless. The kuruma shrimp, /Marsupenaeus japonicus, differs from the speckled shrimp in its prominent colour pattern, with transverse dark bands on the first four segments of the abdomen.

Other species that look similar

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History and Route of 231-240. Introduction Serpil Yilmaz, Z. Arzu B. Ozvarol and Y. Ozvarol, Native to the Indo-West Pacific, the speckled 2009. Fisheries and Shrimp Economy, Some shrimp was first recorded in the Mediterranean Biological Properties of the Shrimp Metapenaeus (as Penaeopsis monoceros) in Egypt in 1924, and monoceros (Fabricus, 1798) in the Gulf of has subsequently been found in Israel, southern Antalya (Turkey). Journal of Animal and Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia and Veterinary Advances, 8: 2530-2536. Italy.

Ecological Impacts

It may pose a threat to the native penaeid shrimp Melicertus kerathurus as it outcompetes native species for food and territory.

Economic Impacts

It is commercially important in Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Tunisia, where is caught by trawlers in offshore and beach seines.

Management Options

No management options have yet been described.