Giant Freshwater Prawn
Scientific name: Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man, 1879)
Overview
Macrobrachium rosenbergii is a commercially important species of palaemonid freshwater prawn. It is native throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of the Indo-Pacific region, from India to Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. While M. rosenbergii is considered a freshwater species, the larval stage of the animal depends on brackish water. Once the individual shrimp has grown beyond the planktonic stage and becomes a juvenile, it lives entirely in fresh water.
From the Wikipedia article “Macrobrachium rosenbergii”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Least concern on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: Australia; Southern Asia.
Common names
Also known in English as giant river prawn.
Names in other languages (5)
- Chinese
- 泰國蝦, 泰國長臂大蝦, 罗氏沼虾, 羅氏沼蝦
- Indonesian
- Udang Galah
- Japanese
- オニテナガエビ
- Persian
- شاهمیگوی رودخانهای
- Portuguese
- Camarão-da-malásia
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q2700085, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Macrobrachium rosenbergii”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — This illustration was made by Citron You must credit this : Citron / CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026