Page 87 - Invasive_Species_2013

Mediterranean invasive species factsheet

Similar species Ecological impacts
The Mediterranean shrimp Melicertus kerathurus It may pose a threat to the native penaeid shrimp
lacks the curved spine on the fifth walking leg in Melicertus kerathurus as it outcompetes native
males and its carapace is hairless. The kuruma species for food and territory.
shrimp, Marsupenaeus japonicus, differs from the
speckled shrimp in its prominent colour pattern, with
transverse dark bands on the first four segments of
the abdomen.

Melicertus kerathurus Marsupenaeus japonicus. Photo: A. Can - www.alpcan.com

Economic impacts

It is commercially important in Egypt, Israel,
Lebanon, Turkey and Tunisia, where is caught by
trawlers in offshore and beach seines.

Management options

No management options have yet been described.
Marsupenaeus japonicus
Further reading
Streftaris, N. et al., 2005. Globalisation in marine
Brief history of its introduction and ecosystems: the story of non-indigenous marine species
pathways across European seas. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev. 43,
419-453.
Native to the Indo-West Pacific, the speckled shrimp
Bariche, M., 2012. Field identification guide to the living
was first recorded in the Mediterranean (as marine resources of the Eastern and Southern
Penaeopsis monoceros) in Egypt in 1924, and has Mediterranean. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery
subsequently been found in Israel, southern Turkey, Purposes. Rome, FAO. 610 pp.
Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia and Italy. Ben Hadj Hamida-Ben Abdallah, O. et al., 2009.
Reproductive biology of the speckled shrimp Metapenaeus
monoceros (Fabricius, 1798) (Decapoda: Penaeidae) in the
gulf of Gabes (Southern Tunisia, Eastern Mediterranean).
Cahiers de Biologie Marine Vol. 50 No. 3 pp. 231-240.
Serpil Yilmaz, Z. Arzu B. Ozvarol and Y. Ozvarol, 2009.
Fisheries and Shrimp Economy, Some Biological Properties
of the Shrimp Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricus, 1798) in
Drawings: Juan Varela
the Gulf of Antalya (Turkey). Journal of Animal and
Veterinary Advances, 8: 2530-2536.

The native species, Melicerthus kerathurus. Photo: A.M. Arias

84 Monitoring Marine Invasive Species in Mediterranean MPAs: A strategy and practical guide for managers