54 MARCH 2026 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG in M. lar larviculture performance as a result of further research. According to the studies of salinity tolerance, the newly emerged larvae of M. lar developed best in completely fresh water or slightly brackish water, progressing to full-strength sea water by the middle of their development. After hatching, larvae need gradually increasing salinity to reach 30 to 34 ppt, which must be maintained until they transform into the decapodite. The larvae can withstand low salinity up to 10 ppt. A distinct preference for salinities trending towards that of full-strength seawater is apparent as the larvae moulted through zoeal stages III to V, with full marine conditions being optimal for survival and growth beyond this developmental stage. Mean survival rates between the 10 ppt and 20 ppt treatments for zoea-I were largely similar, as in the case of the 20 ppt and 30 ppt treatments for zoea III and V larvae which were the only treatments containing surviving larvae at the end of the tolerance test. Advantages of Macrobrachium lar • Because of its size and relatively fast growth rates, this species appears to have good potential for aquaculture. • This will serve as foundation for enhancing culture characteristics, as has been the case with other successfully established species including Nile tilapia, Common carp, and the western white leg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei). • The juveniles of M. lar grow faster and can reach 20-40g/120 days or 0.25g/day. • Males often grow to a larger size (100 gm within 4 month) than females, and females typically grow steadily. • Constraints of Macrobrachium lar • The availability of seed stock for grow-out is severely limited to wild collection only due to the non-availability of complete hatchery technology. • The difficult larval rearing with low survivability may improve with proper larval feeding methods. • Salt water budgeting is crucial for successful breeding and larval rearing. Conclusion Only a few studies have been conducted so far, thus much work needs to be done to standardize the mass level seed production and culture system of Macrobrachium lar. However, as Macrobrachium rosenbergii is not widely cultivated in Andaman and Nicobar Islands water bodies, there is a potential to establish Macrobrachium lar as a freshwater prawn candidate species. The large size, as well as the higher growth rate, has tremendous prospects for improvement. The future of Indian prawn aquaculture requires an alternative approach for its development, which can be done by adopting M. lar as an alternative species along with other species for monoculture and polyculture purposes. The paradigm shift in shrimp farming due to the outbreak of WSSV from Penaeus monodon to Penaeus vannamei has changed the aquaculture industry of India. Since the production of Penaeus monodon (black tiger shrimp) was severely hindered by WSSV, Penaeus vannamei dominated the market following the major breakdown of the shrimp business due to the seed production from specific pathogen free (SPF) broodstock and high stocking density culture practices. Though the same hasn’t been encountered in the freshwater prawn industry yet, preparedness should be there for an alternate species so that the industry does not face such a huge downfall. Moreover, the monkey river prawn is native to our country. The potential of this species for farming can be further researched and used at the farmers’ level to provide an alternative species in the prawn farming sector. Notes Chittaranjan Raul,* R. Kiruba Sankar and J. Praveenraj, ICAR- Central Island Agriculture Research Institute, Sri Vijaya Puram, India and Udipta Roy, ICAR- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Sri Vijaya Puram, India. * Corresponding author: raulchittaranjan339@gmail.com References Cai, Y. and P.K. Ng. 2002. The freshwater palaemonid prawns (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea) of Myanmar. Hydrobiologia 487(1): 59-83. Gereva, S. 2014. An evaluation of the culture performance of two Macrobrachium species in Vanuatu: the exotic M. rosenbergii and the indigenous M. lar. Queensland University of Technology. Brisbane. Austrelia. Ghazi, A.H.H. and H.F. Hassan. 2021. New Record of Macrobrachium lar (Fabricius, 1798) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae) from Al-Hammar Marsh, Southern Iraq. Journal Biological and Applied Environmental Research 5(1): 33-43. Hagerman, L. and J. Ostrup. 1980. Seasonal and diel activity variations in the shrimp Palaemon adspersus from a brackish, non-tidal area. Marine Ecology Progress Series 2: 329-335. Kutty, M.N. and W.C. Valenti. 2010. Culture of other freshwater prawn species. Freshwater prawns: biology and farming. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. UK. Lal, M.M., Seeto, J. and T.D. Pickering. 2014. Complete larval development of the Monkey River Prawn Macrobrachium lar (Palaemonidae) using a novel greenwater technique. SpringerPlus 3: 1-13. Marine Product Export Development Authority (MPEDA). 2023-24. Annual report 2023, Cochin. India. Nandlal, S. 2010. A new species for culture in the Pacific: Evaluation of the potential of the indigenous Macrobrachium lar (Fabricius 1798). The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. New, M.B., Valenti, W.C., Tidwell, J. H., D’Abramo, L. R. and M. N. Kutty (Eds.). 2009. Freshwater prawns: biology and farming. John Wiley & Sons.UK. Sethi, S.N., Ram, N. and V. Venkatesan. 2013. Reproductive biology of Macrobrachium lar in Andaman Islands. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences 43(12): 2269-2276. The future of Indian prawn aquaculture requires an alternative approach for its development, which can be done by adopting M. lar as an alternative species along with other species for monoculture and polyculture purposes.
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