Fecundity of giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) varies with the trophic status and size of the inhabitant perennial reservoirs in Sri Lanka
Abstract
Giant freshwater prawn (GFP, Macrobrachium rosenbergii) is an important commodity in the inland fisheries of Sri Lanka, where fecundity plays a crucial role in estimating the reproductive potential of the species. The fecundity of ovigerous GFP in relation to the trophic status and area of the reservoirs was empirically determined from the GFP collected from twenty-five dry-zone perennial reservoirs across Sri Lanka. Morphometric parameters, total and relative fecundity, and egg characteristics of ovigerous females were calculated. The total fecundity of GFP, which ranged between 5277±2069 – 29366±2371, differed significantly (p<0.05) with the trophic status and size of the reservoirs. The highest total fecundity was observed in the 24–25 cm and 185–210 g length and weight classes of GFP. The GFP inhabiting eutrophic medium perennial reservoirs exhibited the highest fecundity. Fecundity correlates with total length (r=0.75) and weight (r=0.71) of GFP. The total length of GFP was significantly associated with egg mass weight (r=0.74) in mesotrophic reservoirs compared to eutrophic reservoirs. Correlations between fecundity and body weight (r=0.70), fecundity and egg mass weight (r=0.76), egg mass weight and total length (r=0.69), and weight (r=0.72) were stronger in minor perennial reservoirs than in major and medium reservoirs. The present findings confirm that fecundity depends on the length, weight, and egg mass weight of ovigerous GFP, but not on the egg volume. The results align with the postulated hypothesis that the fecundity of ovigerous GFP varies with the trophic status and size of the reservoir.
References
Adha KAR, Nicholas FF, Shabdin ML, Awangku SN, Yuzine E (2016) Fecundity of freshwater prawn. Biodiversitas 17: 2085–4722.
Ang KJ, Law YK (1991) Fecundity changes in Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man) during egg incubation. Aquaculture and Fisheries Management 22: 1–6.
Arshad AB, Efrizal E, Kamarudin MS, Saad CR (2006) Study on fecundity, embryology and larval development of blue swimming crab Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758) under laboratory conditions. Research Journal of Fisheries and Hydrobiology 1: 35–44.
Bal DV, Rao K (1990) Marine fisheries of India. Tata Mac. Graw-Hill Publishing Co. Ltd., New Delhi.
Bas CC, Spivak ED, Anger K (2007) Seasonal and inter-populational variability in fecundity, egg size, and elemental composition (CHN) of eggs and larvae in a grapsoid crab, Chasmagnathus granulatus. Helgoland Marine Research 61: 225–237.
Belgrad BA, Griffen BD (2016) The influence of diet composition on fitness of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. PLoS ONE 11: e0145481.
Bertini G, Baeza JA, Perez E (2014) A test of large-scale reproductive migration in females of the amphidromous shrimp Macrobrachium acanthurus (Caridea: Palaemonidae) from south-eastern Brazil. Marine & Freshwater Research 65: 81–93.
Carlson RE, Simpson J (1996) A coordinator’s guide to volunteer lake monitoring methods. North American Lake Management Society, February 1996.
Cavalli R, Lavens P, Patrick S (2001) Reproductive performance of Macrobranchium rosenbergii females in captivity. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 32: 60–67.
Chen S, Chen J (2003) Effects of pH on survival, growth, molting and feeding of giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Aquaculture 218(1): 613–623.
Da Silva RR, Sampaio CMS, Santos JA (2004) Fecundity and fertility of Macrobrachium amazonicum (Crustacea, Palaemonidae). Brazilian Journal of Biology 64: 489–500.
Davenport HA (1960) Histological and histochemical techniques. W. B. Saunders Co., London, UK, Oxford, UK.
De DK (1980) Maturity, fecundity and spawning of post monsoon run of hilsa, Hilsa ilisha (Hamilton) in the upper stretches of Hoogly Estuarine System. Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India 12(1): 54–63.
Deekae SN, Abowei JFN (2010) The fecundity of Macrobrachium macrobrachion (Herklots, 1851) from Luubara Creek Ogoni Land, Niger Delta, Nigeria. International Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances 2(4): 148–154.
Deepananda KHM, Macusi ED (2012) The changing climate and its implications to capture fisheries: a review. Journal of Nature Studies 11(1&2): 71–87.
Deepananda KHM, Priyadarshana T, Lenarolle I, Udayantha V (2014) Indian carps reproducing naturally in Udawalawe Reservoir, Sri Lanka. AACL Bioflux 7: 333–341.
FAO (2018) The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2018 - meeting the sustainable development goals. FAO, Rome.
Fisheries statistics 2020 (2020) Ministry of Fisheries, Maligawatta, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.
Fisheries Statistics 2021 (2021) Ministry of Fisheries, Maligawatta, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.
Graziani CA, Chung KS, Donato M (1993) Comportamiento reproductive y fertilidad de Macrobrachium carcinus (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) en Venezuela. Revista de Bologica Tropical 41(3): 657–665 (in Spanish).
Griffen BD (2014) Linking individual diet variation and fecundity in an omnivorous marine consumer. Oecologia 174: 121–130.
Hjelset AM, Nilssen EM, Sundet JH (2012) Reduced size composition and fecundity related to fishery and invasion history in the introduced red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) in Norwegian waters. Fisheries Research 121: 73–80.
Ismael D, New MB (2000) Biology. In: New MB, Valenti WC (Eds) Freshwater prawn culture, Blackwell, Oxford, 2000.
Jones C, Amarasinghe U, De Silva S, de Croos D, Digamadulla S, ... Fleming A (2021) Assessing production of giant freshwater prawns in reservoirs in Sri Lanka. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), GPO Box 1571, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia.
Kawan IM, Arya IW, Sadguna DN (2019) The effect of salinity on fecundity and production of giant shrimp larvae (Macrobrachium rosenbergii de Man). Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1402(3): 033059.
Kingdom T, Erondu, ES (2013) Reproductive biology of African river prawn Macrobrachium vollenhovenii (Crustacea: Palaemonidae) in the Lower Taylor Creek, Niger Delta, Nigeria. Ecologia Balkanica 5(1): 49–56.
Kumar K, Kotnala CB, Rana AR (2017) Evaluation of gonadal indices to understand the reproductive rhythm of Macrobrachium assamense peninsulare from Rawasan stream of Uttarakhand, India. Environment Conservation Journal 18(1 & 2): 21–25.
Kumar K, Kotnala CB, Rana AR (2019) Fecundity and egg dimension of freshwater prawn Macrobrachium assamense peninsulare (Tiwari, 1958) from Rawasan stream of Garhwal, Central Himalaya, India. Aquaculture Research 50: 3608–3615.
Lardies M, Castilla J (2001) Latitudinal variation in the reproductive biology of the commensal crab Pinnaxodes chilensis (Decapoda: Pinnotheridae) along the Chilean coast. Marine Biology 139: 1125–1133.
Lardies MA, Wehrtmann IS, (2001) Latitudinal variation in the reproductive biology of Betaeus truncatus (Decapoda: Alpheidae) along the Chilean Coast. Ophelia 55: 55–67.
Lobao VL, Rojas NET, Valenti W (1986) Fecundidade e fertilidade de Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller, 1862) (Crustacea, Decapoda) em laboratório. BolInst Pesca 13: 15–20 (in Portuguese).
Mahapatra BK, Pal BC, Chatiopadhyay P, Saha D, Datta NC (1996) Some aspects of biology and fishery of mud crab, Scylla serrata (Forskal) with a note on its culture prospects in the Sundarbans. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India 38: 8–14.
Malecha S (1983) Commercial seed production of the freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, in Hawaii. In: McVey JP (Ed) CRC handbook of mariculture, volume I. CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida, USA.
Mantel SK, Dudgeon D (2005) Reproduction and sexual di‐ morphism of the Palaemonid shrimps M. hainanense in Hongkong stream. Journal of Crustacean Biology 25(3): 450–459.
Mashiko K (1983) Differences in the egg and clutch sizes of the prawn Macrobrachium nipponense (de Haan) between brackish and freshwaters of a river. Zoological Magazine 92: 1–9.
Mashiko K (1990) Diversified egg and clutch sizes among local populations of the fresh-water prawn Macrobrachium nipponense (de Haan). Journal of Crustacean Biology 10: 306–314.
Nazari EM, Simões-Costa MS, Müller YMR, Ammar D, Dias M (2003) Comparisons of fecundity, egg size, and egg mass volume of the freshwater prawns Macrobrachium potiuna and Macrobrachium olfersi (Decapoda, Palaemonidae). Journal of Crustacean Biology 23(4): 862–868.
Nikolsky GV (1963) The ecology of fishes. Academic Press, New York.
Pantaleao FJA, Carvalho-Batista A, Teodoro SAS, Costa CR (2018) The influence of environmental variables in the reproductive performance of Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller, 1862) (Caridea: Palaemonidae) females in a continental population. Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences 90(2): 1445–1458.
Rao KJ (1991) Reproductive biology of the giant freshwater prawn Macrobranchium rosenbergii (de Man) from Lake Kolleru (Andhara Pradesh). Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 61: 780–787.
Rashid MA, Shahjahan MR, Begum AR, Alam MS, Ferdous Z, Kamruzzaman M (2013) Fecundity and embryonic development in three Macrobrachium pecies. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 1(1): 3–11.
Sanuja RG, Jayasinghe UAD, Lakshman PLN, Deepananda KHMA (2024) Trophic state of the reservoir influences the allometric coefficient and condition factor of giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) cultured in perennial reservoirs of Sri Lanka. Davao Research Journal 15(1): 68-81.
Sharma A, Subba BR (2005) General biology of freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium lamarrei (H. Milne-Edwards) of Biratnagar, Nepal. Our Nature 3: 31–41.
Shrivastava CBL (1999) A textbook of fishery science and Indian fisheries. Kitab Mahal, New Delhi.
Silva BRM, Silva GMF, Mendes YA, Pantoja JCD, Viana IKS, ... Ferreira MAP (2024) Influence of abiotic factors on the fecundity and ecological plasticity of a freshwater prawn in estuary and river environments. Marine and Freshwater Research 75: MF24013.
Silva RR, Sampaio CMS, Santos JA (2004) Fecundity and fertility of Macrobrachium amazonicum (Crustacea, Palaemonidae). Marine & Freshwater Research 64(3A): 489–500.
Sithee T, Praneet D, Wandee P (2006) Stimulation of ovarian development and spawning in the giant freshwater prawn: Macrobranchium rosenbergii (de Man). Aquaculture Research 37: 1259–1261.
Stearns SC (1992) The evolution of life histories. Oxford University Press, UK.
Tropea C, Stumpf L, Greco LSL (2015) Effect of temperature on biochemical composition, growth and reproduction of the ornamental red cherry shrimp Neocaridina heteropoda heteropoda (Decapoda, Caridea). PLoS ONE 10(3): e0119468.
Utami E, Supratman O (2018) The fecundity of freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) in Menduk River, Bangka, Bangka Belitung. Advances in Engineering Research 167: 249–251.
Warry F, Lyons G, Cooper J, Waldock R (2016) Nitrogen loads influence trophic organization of estuarine fish assemblages. Functional Ecology 30(10): 1723–173.
Wijenayake WMHK, Jayasinghe UAD, Amarasinghe US, Athula JA, Pushpalatha KBC, De Silva SS (2005) Culture-based fisheries in non-perennial reservoirs in Sri Lanka: production and relative performance of stocked species. Fisheries Management and Ecology 12(4): 249–258.
Wijenayake WMHK, Najim MMM, Amarasinghe US (2021) Constraints in culture-based fisheries of Sri Lanka and strategies for future development. Sri Lanka Journal of Aquatic Sciences 26(2): 81–95.
Winemiller KO, Rose KA (1992) Patterns of life-history diversification in North American fishes: implications for population regulation. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 49: 2196–2218.
Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
