The Natural Home of Freswater Prawns (Distribution)

Macrobrachium Rosenbergii at Sumatera River

Species of the freshwater prawn genus Macrobrachium are distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical zones of the world. Holthuis (1980) provides useful information on the distribution, local names, habitats and maximum sizes of commercial (fished and farmed) species of Macrobrachium.

They are found in most inland freshwater areas including lakes, rivers, swamps, irrigation ditches, canals and ponds, as well as in estuarine areas. Most species require brackishwater in the initial stages of their life cycle
(and therefore they are found in water that is directly or indirectly connected with the sea) although some complete their cycle in inland saline and freshwater lakes. Some species prefer rivers containing clear water,
while others are found in extremely turbid conditions. Macrobrachium rosenbergii is an example of the latter.

There is a wide interspecific variation in maximum size and growth rate, Macrobrachium Rosenbergii, Macrobrachium Americanum, Macrobrachium Carcinus, Macrobrachium Malcolmsonii, Macrobrachium Choprai, Macrobrachium Vollenhovenii and Macrobrachium Lar being the largest species known. Macrobrachium Americanum (Cauque river prawn) is found naturallyin western watersheds of the Americas while Macrobrachium Carcinus (painted river prawn) is found in those connected with the Atlantic. Macrobrachium Choprai (Ganges river prawn) is found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra river systems. Macrobrachium Lar (Monkey river prawn) is native from East Africa to the Marquesas Islands of the Pacific (and was introduced into Hawaii). Macrobrachium Malcolmsonii (monsoon river prawn) is found in the waters of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Macrobrachium  Rosenbergii (giant river prawn) is indigenous in the whole of the South and Southeast Asian area as well as in northern Oceania and in the western Pacific islands. Macrobrachium Vollenhovenii (African river prawn) is naturally distributed in West Africa, from Senegal toAngola. Many Macrobrachium species have been transferred from their natural location to other parts of the world, initially for research purposes. Macrobrachium Rosenbergii remains the species most used for commercial farming and consequently is the one which has been introduced to more countries. Following its import into Hawaii from Malaysia in 1965, where the pioneer work of Ling (1969) was translated into a method for the mass production of post larvae (PL) by Fujimura and Okamoto (1972), it has been introduced into almost every continent for farming purposes. M. rosenbergii is now farmed in many countries; the major producers (>200 mt) are Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Malaysia, Taiwan
Province of China, and Thailand (FAO 2002). More than thirty other countries reported production of this species in the year 2000. Viet Nam is also a major producer, according to New (2000b). In addition, there are also valuable capture fisheries for Macrobrachium Rosenbergii, for example in Bangladesh, India, and several countries in Southeast Asia.