Prawns are recognized as a major delicacy for the table and in many parts of the world prawn fisheries have developed extensively during the last forty years. There is a need to develop identification technique for post larvae and juvenile of prawn/shrimp, which is easy and reliable. Such a technique would be useful for studying genetic variations of wild populations and in brood stock selection for intensive farming. In this book identification of major commercially important species is done from Mysis, Post larvae stages as well as adults. Identification using carapace and how to identify prawn/shrimp in field are also given. Identification of Mysis and post larvae are given using drawings of antinnuals, mandibles, maxillas, maxiliped, uropod and telson with their description. Identification of adults are given with their classification, scientific name, common name, distinguish characters, colour, maximum size, their distribution and drawings of species, petasma and thylecum. In some cases photographs and comparative characters of nearer species are also given. The subject is explained with the help of 535 drawings, colour photographs and 30 tables. In this book identification of 78 Marine water prawn and 28 freshwater shrimps totaling 106 prawn and shrimp species are given. The subject of the book is justified using more than 90 references. Different parameters like site selection, design and construction of culture pond, type of soil, stocking, feed nutrition requirement, feed preparation, method and quantity of feed distribution and major diseases in commercial cultured prawn/shrimp are given. Culture method in details of marine prawn as well as freshwater shrimp is given. Details of selection of prawn/shrimp species and ingredients of feed preparation considering local condition are also explained. In this book the requirement of syllabus for B.F.Sc and M.F.Sc. approved by I.C.A.R. is also looked into with respect to the subject of this book. This will help to students, teachers and research workers as well as the supervisors of prawn/shrimp culture farms.
