ID my new prawn please

[syddakyd]

i think its either a giant prawn or a long arm prawn. the guys at the petstore were clueless and said it was a blue crawfish so i was like...."yea sure, i'll take it" (obviously its a not a crawfish).


it's eating shrimp pellets and algae wafers. my parrot is annoying it but hopefully it will leave it alone once it becomes accustomed to it. seems like a great scavenger and not a threat to fish like crawfish are. not sure how plant safe it is but i guess ill find out..

 

[vanillarum]

Looks like a long arm shrimp to me. I have a few, but don't know the name of them. I've had them since Jan., and they're pretty cool. Eat just about anything. My biggest is over 3" long. Good luck.

 

[pixl8r]

It is definitely a Macrobrachium shrimp. I can't tell you the exact species from your picture. It could be a juvenile, or a species of shrimp that does not have much color. If it develops more color, post more pictures. You could also try searching some of the online resources for shrimp to find a possible scientific name.

The reason I say possible is that there are many unclassified species of Macrobrachium shrimp. They lack common names, and scientific names. Oh, and there are shrimp that have incorrect scientific name data. So, yeah!

 

[pixl8r]

Ok, I just did a quick search of wirbellose.de and found *some* possible candidates. If you have an adult shrimp, it may be one of the following (but I doubt it, from the coloring of your shrimp).

I included a link, then the scientific name.

http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=088 Macrobrachium cf. mirabile
http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=310 Macrobrachium lamarrei lamarrei
http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=003 Macrobrachium lanchesteri
http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=118 Macrobrachium scabialum
http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=046 Macrobrachium sp.Guinea

If you have a juvenile shrimp, it could be this species,

http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=112 Macrobrachium rosenbergii

If you do have a juvenile M. rosenbergii, if the shrimp makes it to adulthood, it WILL eat every living creature in the same tank. They are extremely predatory. Also, if you follow the link, you will find that this species of shrimp can get very large, with a body over 12 inches long. Their claws extend out much farther than their body.

 

[syddakyd]

hmm im still not sure either but thanks for the help regardless. what i will do is just leave it in there and if i encounter any problems down the road...i will just give it to my friend

 

[Danyal]

probably an M. rosenbergii, they are commonly bred commercially for the food industry.

 

[pixl8r]

Please don't take this as combative, I just want to share the research and reading I've done over the years.

I didn't make myself clear, the other day. When I posted the information about M. rosenbergii, I should have added, I am sure that it is not from that specific species. While some M. rosenbergii can present orange color, it is located at the ends of the primary chela (claws), not at the joints of all limbs. Also, the 'orange claw' shrimp are the subdominate adult males. The dominate male has dark blue claws.

Also the species always presents with horizontal striations on the carapace. Note the following image from http://db.angfa.org.au/

Your shrimp does not have the horizontal stripes. I can't guarantee that you don't have a juvenile, of another aggressive species, but it is not M. rosenbergii.

Good luck!

 

[pixl8r]

Oh, one more thing to add, 'Freshwater Prawn', 'Long-arm Shrimp', or any use of the word 'Prawn' in regards to a freshwater shrimp, always refers to Palaemonid shrimp, usually from the Macrobrachium genus.

However, Prawn is not 100% accepted vernacular for freshwater shrimp. It doesn't bother me at all, I fairly frequently use the word, since the freshwater species are closely related to their marine counterparts.

 

[Cuvier]

Macrobrachium amazonicum.