(Image credit: Graham Edgar)

The eastern king prawn has been recorded from from northern reefs in Queensland to Georges Bay in Tasmania. To identify this prawn look for a pair of grooves alongside its rostrum (spikey bit on its head) to the end of its carapace (body shell). The spikey rostrum will have 10 to 11 teeth on the top and just one on the lower surface. The difference between the western (Penaeus latisulcatus) and Eastern king prawn is that the western prawn lacks black speckling and has narrower markings on its abdomen - I think you will have to be looking pretty closely to notice that!

Length: Carapace up to 6 cm

Habitat

Sand and silt, in shallow waters; 1-220 m depth

Log it

In Tasmania, log it south of Georges Bay, St Helens

Related links/info

Species names on the Redmap site are based on the Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota or CAAB (http://www.cmar.csiro.au/caab/). This is updated regularly and lists the approved common name, family, species name and more.

Redmap species descriptions were based, with permission, on the following resources:

Australian Marine Life: The Plants and Animals of Temperate Waters by G. J. Edgar, Revised Ed. (2008) Reed Books, Melbourne

Fishes of Australia’s Southern Coast, Edited by M. Gomon. D. Bray and R. Kuiter (2008) Reed Books, Melbourne

Fishes of Tasmania by P. Last, E. Scott and F. Talbot (1983). Tasmanian Fisheries Development Authority, Hobart

Find further information and images at FISHES OF AUSTRALIA http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/