Prawn Culture: Economic importance and Kinds of prawn

Prawn Culture

Introduction: Prawn is a tasty and delicious aquatic animal. It is not a fish. Itbelongs to the phylum Arthropoda and class Crustacea. Its body is bilaterally symmetrical and the appendages are joined or segmented. Its body is composed of two regions, namely abdomen and cephalothorax. Cephalothorax is divided into head and thorax. There are 19 pairs of appendages, which are used in catching food, walking, swimming etc. There is an extension in the cephalothorx named rostrum, which is compressed laterally and serrated. The prawn is a nocturnal and unisexual animal. They can swim in water with the swimming appendages and walk with the walking appendages on the soil in the bottom of water. There are different types of species of prawn in our country, out of which a few species live in fresh water and others in marine water. Again some species live in coastal regions. Prawn is an important fishery resource of Bangladesh.

Economic importance of prawn:

1.  It is a tasty protein food.

2.  Economic development can be achieved through prawn culture.

3.        Prawn takes part in earning foreign currency.

4.        It is much profitable to cultivate prawn in fresh water at a comparatively lower cost. well.

So, it is very profitable to cultivate prawn in a planned scientific manner.

Kinds of prawn : Different species of prawns are available in the water bodiesof Bangladesh. Several species of genus, Macrobrachium, are larger in size and tasty to eat. The large sized fresh water prawns are known as Galda prawn. In the salty water of the sea and also in the estuary and creek of our country, there are many species of prawns. Some species of genus Penaeus grow larger. This saline water or marine prawns are known as 'Bagda Prawn'. Bangladesh earns a huge amount of foreign currency by exporting both galda and bagda prawns. In general, a slight warm weather is essential for prawn culture.