{{Short description|Genus of crustaceans}} {{Speciesbox | name = ''Marsupenaeus japonicus'' | image = Marsupenaeus japonicus (MNHN-IU-2011-5734).jpeg | image2 = Marsupenaeus japonicus - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC07540.JPG | display_parents = 2 | parent_authority = Tirmizi, 1971 | taxon = Marsupenaeus japonicus | authority = (Spence Bate, 1888) <ref name="WoRMS">{{cite WoRMS |author=Charles Fransen & Michael Türkay |year=2012 |title=''Marsupenaeus japonicus'' (Spence Bate, 1888) |id=107102 |access-date=February 7, 2012}}</ref> | synonyms = *''Penaeus canaliculatus'' var. ''japonicus'' <small>Spence Bate, 1888</small> *''Penaeus japonicus'' <small>Spence Bate, 1888</small> (basionym) *''Penaeus pulchricaudatus'' <small>Stebbing, 1914</small> | synonyms_ref = <ref name="WoRMS"/> }}
'''''Marsupenaeus''''' is a monotypic genus of prawn. It contains a single species, '''''Marsupenaeus japonicus''''', known as the '''kuruma shrimp''', '''kuruma prawn''', or '''Japanese tiger prawn'''. It occurs naturally in bays and seas of the Indo-West Pacific, but has also reached the Mediterranean Sea as a Lessepsian migrant. It is one of the largest species of prawns, and is accordingly one of the most economically important species in the family.
==Description== [[File:Kurumaebi (Japanese tiger prawn) Nigiri.jpg|thumb|left|Sushi made of kuruma prawn]] Males of ''M. japonicus'' can reach a total length of {{convert|17|cm|abbr=on}}, while females may reach {{convert|27|cm|abbr=on}}<ref name="DAISIE"/> and a mass of {{convert|130|g}}, making it one of the largest species in the family Penaeidae.<ref name="CABI">{{cite web |url=http://www.cabi.org/isc/?compid=5&dsid=71092&loadmodule=datasheet&page=481&site=144 |title=''Marsupenaeus japonicus'' (kuruma shrimp) |work=Invasive Species Compendium |publisher=CAB International |access-date=February 7, 2012}}</ref> The body is pale, with brown bands across the back, while the pereiopods and pleopods (walking and swimming legs, respectively) are pale yellow near their bases, and blue near the tips.<ref name="CABI"/> The rostrum bears 8–10 spines on the top, and one or two below.<ref name="CABI"/>
==Ecology and behavior== ''M. japonicus'' lives in bays and inland seas, particularly where warm currents occur.<ref name="CABI"/> It is nocturnal, remaining buried in the substrate during the day.<ref name="DAISIE"/> Its predators include bony fishes and cartilaginous fishes.<ref name="DAISIE"/>
When the sea temperature exceeds {{convert|20|C|F}}, spawning can begin.<ref name="CABI"/> During copulation, the male transfers a spermatophore to the female, which she stores in a seminal receptacle. She travels to deep water, where she then releases around 700,000 eggs.<ref name="CABI"/> These hatch as nauplii, and pass through further five nauplius stages, three zoeae, and three mysis stages by moulting before reaching the postlarval stage.<ref name="CABI"/>
==Distribution and invasiveness== The natural distribution of ''M. japonicus'' extends from the coast of East Africa and the Red Sea as far east as Fiji and Japan.<ref name="DAISIE">{{cite web |author=B. S. Galil |date=November 6, 2006 |title=''Marsupenaeus japonicus'' |work=Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe |url=http://www.europe-aliens.org/pdf/Marsupenaeus_japonicus.pdf |access-date=February 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201023842/http://www.europe-aliens.org/pdf/Marsupenaeus_japonicus.pdf |archive-date=December 1, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
''M. japonicus'' has entered the Mediterranean Sea as a Lessepsian migrant, through the Suez Canal. It was first observed in Egypt in 1924, and has since spread through the Levant and around the coast of Turkey.<ref name="DAISIE"/> Further populations have been established after the species was released at various sites around France, Italy, and Greece.
==Taxonomy== {{multiple image|perrow=1 | align = right | image1 = Kurumaebi (Japanese tiger prawn) Tempura.jpg | total_width=200 | caption1 = | image2 = Kurumaebi (Japanese tiger prawn) Heads Tempura.jpg | caption2 = | footer = ''Kuruma-ebi'' head and body as tempura }} The species was first described by Charles Spence Bate in 1888 as "''Penaeus canaliculatus'' var. ''japonicus''". In 1971, N. M. Tirmizi established a new subgenus of ''Penaeus'' for ''P. japonicus'',<ref>{{cite journal |author=N. M. Tirmizi |year=1971 |title=''Marsupenaeus'', a new subgenus of ''Penaeus'' Fabricius, 1798 (Decapoda, Natantia) |journal=Pakistan Journal of Zoology |volume=3 |pages=193–194}}</ref> and raised to the rank of genus by Isabel Pérez Farfante and Brian Kensley in 1997.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Patsy A. McLaughlin |author2=Rafael Lemaitre |author3=Frank D. Ferrari |author4=Darryl L. Felder |author5=R. T. Bauer |year=2008 |title=A reply to T. W. Flegel |journal=Aquaculture |volume=275 |issue=1–4 |pages=370–373 |url=http://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/31406/31406.pdf |doi=10.1016/j.aquaculture.2007.12.020}}</ref> ''M. japonicus'' remains the only species in the genus.<ref name="Carideorum">{{cite journal|author=S. De Grave & C. H. J. M. Fransen |year=2011 |title=Carideorum Catalogus: the Recent species of the dendrobranchiate, stenopodidean, procarididean and caridean shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda) |journal=Zoologische Mededelingen |volume=85 |issue=9 |pages=195–589, figs. 1–59 |isbn=978-90-6519-200-4 |url=http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/85/nr02/a01 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121220093841/http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/85/nr02/a01 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-12-20 }}</ref>
Common names for the species include "kuruma shrimp",<ref name="CABI"/> "kuruma prawn"<ref name="DAISIE"/> and "Japanese tiger prawn".<ref>{{cite book |author=Donald V. Lightner |chapter=The penaeid shrimp viruses TSV, IHHNV, WSSV, and YHV: current status in the Americas, available diagnostic methods, and management strategies |editor1=Chhorn Lim |editor2=Carl D. Webster |year=2001 |title=Nutrition and Fish Health |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-56022-887-5 |pages=79–102 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PB3YfasHkQoC&pg=PA83}}</ref>
==Importance== ''M. japonicus'' is considered "one of the most economically important members of the family Penaeidae".<ref name="CABI"/> In its introduced range, it is the subject of fishing by trawling in the eastern Mediterranean, especially around the Gulf of İskenderun.<ref name="DAISIE"/> It is also fished in various parts of its natural range, but its greatest importance is in aquaculture; since 2003, more than {{convert|38000|t|lb}} have been produced in shrimp farms annually, and the value of the annual catch exceeds US$200 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/fishery/species/2584/en |title=Species Fact Sheets: ''Penaeus japonicus'' (Bate, 1888) |work=FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization |access-date=February 7, 2012}}</ref>
{{Commons category|Marsupenaeus}}
==References== {{Reflist|32em}}
{{Authority control}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q3295077|from2=Q908130}}
Category:Penaeidae Category:Edible crustaceans Category:Commercial crustaceans Category:Monotypic decapod genera Category:Crustaceans described in 1888 Category:Taxa named by Charles Spence Bate