Pre-mating moult, breeding and spawning
Pre-mating moult (Fig. 1) occurs in prawns once
the ovaries ripen in their carapace cavity so as to
transform the prawn into berried stage. This duration
for transformation from ripe state to berried
state varied from 5 to 7 days with an average of
6 days and this observation was similar to
that recorded by Rao (1965) and Ling (1969) for
M. rosenbergii and by Prasad and Kanaujia (2006)
for both M. malcolmsonii and M. gangeticum.
Mating takes place between hard-shelled males
and ripe-soft shelled females (Fig. 2) which have
completed their pre-mating moult. After pre-mating
moult, the freshly moulted females were found
weak and sluggish and search for shelter to protect
themselves from predators. Pillay (1993)
recorded that semen is deposited in a gelatinous
mass on the underside of the thoracic region of
the female, between the walking legs. Within a
few hours, the female extrudes eggs through the