Penaeus semisulcatus , Metapeanaeus mastersii and Penaeus latisulcatus are the shrimp species found in U.A.E. waters of which Penaeus semisulcatus is the most common and commercially important species .

Shrimp Culture At Marine Resources Research Centre (RRC) , Umm Al-Qiwain

The experimental shrimp culture on P. semisulcatus (local species) and P. indicus ( imported species ) comprises the following procedure:

Stage 1 - Rearing of Brood stock

Six to ten month old matured females are shifted from brood stock pond to spawning tank . Immature shrimps are stocked in maturation tank with female - male ratio 2 : 1 .

Stage 2 - Spawning and Egg hatching

Usually spawning occurs between 8 P.M. At MRRC , female Penaeus indicus produced between 150,000 and 240,000 eggs and the number of eggs generally depends on the body weight of shrimp . The nauplii hatched out from the eggs about 14 - 18 hours after the spawning , use the yolk within themselves as the feed .

Stage - 3 Larvae rearing

Post nauplii shifted to rearing tanks fed with phytoplankton such as Tetraselmis sp. And diatoms till the zoea stage . From mysis stage , larvae feed on zooplankton and Artemia nauplii ( Brine shrimp ) . This stage is followed by post larvae stage .

Stage - 4 Pond culture

The post larvae ( PL 20 days ) are shifted to the culture pond ( 1600 sq. m . ) at MRRC and the stocking density is 30 - 50 tails / sq. m. Artificial feeds given contain 53 % protein at post larvae , 43 % at juvenile and 39 % at adult stages . The feeding amount is reduced from 15 % at post larvae to 2 % during adult stage.

Stage - 5 Harvesting

The harvesting could be done when the shrimp reach about 20 g after six month' s pond culture .

Certian Technical Notes On Shrimp Culture

The result of experimental shrimp culture at MRRC indicated Feed Conversion Rate ( FCR ) between 3 and 3.5 . Water exchange should not be less than 100 % daily It is observed that the Tetraselmis sp. Cultured in opened tanks at the Centre could reach a density of 1 million cells / ml .

As per the observations at MRRC the spawning season for Penaeus semisulcatus is from October to July and for Penaeus indicus the spawning occurs from April to June and also from October to December . The salinity of water at Umm Al Qaiwain is 39 - 42 p.p.t. and the water temperature ranges from 17 - 33 C .

At the centre , the shrimp grow to a size of 10 g in three months and 20 g in six months . Feeding the brood stock with certain invertebrates , worms , bivalves etc , in addition to the artificial feed is recommended .

The survival rate in hatchery was 30 - 50 % for Penaeus semisulcatus and 30 - 55 % for Penaeus indicus . According to the culture method adopted at the Centre , the production density range from 100 to 300 g / sq . m which is about 1 to 3 ton / ha / crop .