Simple morphometric characters, confirmed by gel electrophoresis, separate small juvenile banana prawns (Penaeus indicus and P. merguiensis)

The juveniles of red-legged banana prawns Penaeus indicus and white banana prawns P. merguiensis are difficult to distinguish. Gel electrophoresis, with the enzyme malate dehydrogenase, clearly separated into species both large and small prawns. Four morphological characters were measured from juvenile prawns (identified using electrophoresis): three of these provided reliable separation into species. The mean ratio of the distance from the anterior-most dorsal rostral tooth (first tooth) to the tip of the rostrum (L 1 ): to the distance between this tooth and the second tooth (L 1,2 ) was higher for P. indicus (3.16) than P. merguiensis (1.56). All juvenile P. indicus had the first tooth posterior to the antennular peduncle, while it was anterior for all P. merguiensis. More than 90% of P. indicus had six rostral teeth behind the eye, while over 90% of P. merguiensis had five teeth behind the eye. Damage to the rostrum prevented measurements of the position of the first tooth in 20 to 30% of juvenile prawns. Combining the measurements of the ratio of L 1 : L 1,2 and the count of the number of rostral teeth behind the eye meant that all prawns could be unambiguously identified

How far do prawns and fish move into mangroves? Distribution of juvenile banana prawns Penaeus merguiensis and fish in a tropical mangrove forest in northern Australia

It is accepted that mangroves are important nursery areas for prawns and fish, including some of major commercial importance, but little is known about how these mobile animals use the mangrove forests. We recorded the distribution of juvenile banana prawns Penaeusmerguiensis and of fish in an intertidal mangrove forest adjacent to a small creek in northern Australia in November 1992 and in March 1993. Four discrete areas of the forest were enclosed with a 100 m long, 2 mm mesh stake net: 2 at the creek mangrove fringe and 2 at further distances into the mangroves. The mean distance of each sampling site inland from the creek mangrove fringe ranged from 13 to 59 m and the area of the sites ranged from 480 to 640 m2. Two mangrove communities, one dominated by the structurally complex Rhizophorastylosa, the other by the more open Ceriopstagal were sampled. A large size range of juvenile prawns and small fish moved at least 43 m into the mangroves at high tide, and the density of prawns near the creek mangrove fringe was inversely related to the maximum tide height. The highest density of juvenile P. merguiensis recorded in the mangroves in November was 18.3 prawns 100 m-2 and in March was 334.5 prawns 100 m-2. Mean fish density over all samples was 83.0 fish 100 m-2 and mean fish biomass was 3.9 g m-2; 55 species of fish were caught during the sampling. P.merguiensis showed no apparent preference for either of the 2 mangrove communities sampled; however, more fish (101 fish 100 m-2) and more fish species (26) were caught at the creek mangrove fringe site than at the other more inland sites; the lowest numbers of fish (27 fish m-2) and species (13) were caught at the inland site (Ceriops). On average, fish caught at the fringe site were also longer and heavier than fish caught at the other sites. By moving well into the mangrove forest, prawns and small fish are probably less vulnerable to predation by larger fish

Flocculated microalgae concentrates as diets for larvae of the tiger prawn Penaeus monodon Fabricius

Fresh algal culture is a major bottleneck in the aquaculture industry. Substitutes that are cost-effective and simplify hatchery procedures, such as algae concentrates need to be evaluated. Four species of alga –Chaetoceros muelleri, C. calcitrans, a tropical Skeletonema sp. and Thalassiosira pseudonana– were concentrated by flocculation, stored for 6 weeks at 4 °C and then compared with their fresh counterparts as feeds for Penaeus monodon larvae. The algae were fed at either high or low cell densities with no supplements. Fresh C. muelleri promoted the highest survival, greatest weight gain and fastest development to mysis 1. Larvae fed this diet were twice as heavy as those fed most of the other diets. Concentrated C. muelleri or T. pseudonana promoted similar survival rates to that of larvae fed fresh C. muelleri although development rates were slower. Larvae fed fresh C. calcitrans had high survival and intermediate development, but those fed the concentrate had very poor survival and development. Skeletonema sp., whether in the fresh or concentrated form, was a poor diet for prawn larvae: it resulted in high mortality and slow development. Cell density did not affect survival or dry weight of larvae but did affect development in some cases. Flocculated algal concentrates show promise as replacement feeds for fresh algae

Abundance of fish and crustacean postlarvae on portable artificial seagrass units: daily sampling provides quantitative estimates of the settlement of new recruits

Artificial collectors and seagrass units have mainly provided qualitative samples of epifaunal abundance or have been difficult and time-consuming to sample. Consequently, they are useful for distinguishing temporal or spatial trends in abundance or they are deployed for several weeks and, as a result, the quantitative samples are cumulative. We developed a portable artificial seagrass unit (ASU) with buoyant plastic artificial seagrass (47 cm long by 15 mm wide strips) that can be retrieved, harvested and re-deployed with 98% catch efficiency in about 5 min by two people from a small boat. They can quickly and easily quantify settlement of crustacean and fish postlarvae over tidal or deil periods. When set for 24 h, postlarvae settled from the plankton during the night and their abundance is the result of a distinct settlement event. When set for longer periods, the numbers of postlarvae may represent several settlement events and post-settlement activities. Crustacean and fish postlarvae and juveniles used ASUs deployed within seagrass in a similar way to natural seagrass. Estimates of juvenile tiger prawn abundance from beam-trawl catches showed similar densities in natural seagrass (2.93 Penaeus semisulcatus de Haan m−2 day) to those in the ASUs (2.40 P. semisulcatus m−2 day−1); their density was significantly lower on bare trays (0.48 P. semisulcatus m−2 day−1). When deployed on bare areas, more epifaunal crustacean postlarvae were collected from the ASUs (e.g. Portunus pelagicus Linnaeus, 1.21 m−2 day−1; caridean shrimp 4.03 m−2 day−1) than from the bare trays (e.g. P. pelagicus, 0.46 m−2 day−1; caridean shrimp 0.78 m−2 day−1). However, greater abundances of the postlarvae of other crustacean taxa were collected from the bare trays than the ASUs (e.g. Sergestes spp. 1.21 and 0.31 m−2 day−1; tiger prawn postlarvae 0.15 and 0.06 m−2 day−1, respectively). Sampling with portable ASUs allows settlement to be assessed temporally (e.g., daily or tidally) or spatially (e.g., distinct areas affected by different current regimes). The strength of settlement can be used to evaluate the productivity of nursery habitat for fishery populations