mangrove hairy-handed prawn (caridina propinqua)

CONTENTS

Fauna index

Crustacea

Peter K L Ng and N Sivasothi (editors)

Mangrove
hairy-handed prawn
Caridina propinqua
Family Atyidae

Size: 3-4 cm

These prawns can be very common in back mangroves, especially in pools. They are filter or detrital feeders, with their tiny pincers fringed with long hairs for this purpose.

Caridina propinqua
female carrying eggs

The hairy-handed pincer of
Caridina propinqua

These tiny prawns are very important in the food chain, and both adults and juveniles of this prawn can be found in mangroves.

A similar looking prawn sometimes found with Caridina is the Tigger prawn (Potamalpheops tigger, Family Alpheidae) which was only described in the 1990s. This prawn, however, is distinctively striped (versus plain coloured) and is actually more closely related to snapping prawns.

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What is mangrove?
Introduction

The Ecosystem
Abiotic
Biotic

Value
Intro
Products
Indirect uses
Potential uses

About Mangroves
in Singapore
History
Mangroves to visit
Conservation

From "A Guide to Mangroves of Singapore", Peter K. L. Ng and N. Sivasothi (editors)
Volume 1: The Ecosystem and Plant Diversity and Volume 2: Animal Diversity
Authors: Kelvin K. P. Lim, Dennis H. Murphy, T. Morgany, N. Sivasothi, Peter K. L. Ng,
B. C. Soong, Hugh T. W. Tan, K. S. Tan & T. K. Tan
BP Guide to Nature Series published by the Singapore Science Centre, sponsored by British Petroleum
© 2001 Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, The National University of Singapore & The Singapore Science Centre