Prawns Identification - not an easy task
The first sampling was started on 18th January 2004. With the helps of HuaQin, we able to catch about 15 prawns from the pools of water left by the receding tide waters. The prawns collected were small in size, ranging from 1.0 cm to 2.5 cm, they were preserved in 75% alcohol for further identification.
The identification of prawns are tough and confusing, thanks to Dr. Darren Yeo who was there to give me helps and tips. After the identification, suprisingly, all of the prawns were not the 4 species specified in my project. Instead, the prawns were juvenile shrimps from family Palaemonidae, these include the genus Macrobrachium and Palaemon. Therefore, it is important to learn the way to identify different order and family of prawns instead of directly to the species. More works and literature search are needed on other related prawns family and genus.
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