Giant tiger prawn Penaeus monodon

The giant tiger prawn is the largest farmed penaeid, indigenous from Pakistan to Japan and Australia, and the species on which Asian shrimp farming was built before whiteleg shrimp displaced it; 816,053 tonnes were still reported for 2024. Females reach 35 cm total length and a maximum published weight of 250 g, although ponds harvest at roughly 24 to 32 g after a 145 to 150 day cycle. It is euryhaline, tolerating about 5 to 35 parts per thousand with best growth near 10 to 20, and is farmed at 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. Its commercial weakness is reproductive. It has a closed thelycum, so captive mating is hard; females must reach about 100 g before spawning, which takes ten to twelve months in ponds; and domesticated specific-pathogen-free lines arrived late, leaving farms dependent on wild broodstock and postlarvae of unknown health status. Hatchery larval survival runs 20 to 30 percent against 50 to 60 for whiteleg shrimp, so the hatchery is where the losses sit. Like every crustacean it has no adaptive immunity and no vaccine; white spot syndrome virus, yellowhead virus and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease define its clinical picture and trigger trade restrictions.