Distribution of the giant river prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man, 1879) in Brazil: 43 years after its introduction

Abstract

Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man, 1879) is a freshwater prawn from Malaysia and in 1977 it was introduced in Brazil for development of carciniculture. However, this species is currently found in various natural environments in the Brazilian states. The present study aimed at conducting a survey of M. rosenbergii sites in the natural environment, and shrimp farming ponds using this species. To do so, a search was conducted in scientific articles and databases on the occurrence of the species in Brazil. We found reports in 80 different sites in Brazil. Macrobrachium rosenbergii was found in the natural environment in eight states and 43 cities, with the largest amount of reports being from the states of Pará and Maranhão. In addition, we found 28 reports in 13 states of shrimp farming ponds. Macrobrachium rosenbergii was not reported in natural environments in the Center-West region (except in state of Goiás) and North region (except in state of Pará). Moreover, we found that most of the M. rosenbergii reports were in temperature equal to or greater than 25 °C. Therefore, this species has expanded its area of occurrence throughout various Brazilian states, and we believe that this expansion may be greater than that reported in the current study.

Keywords
Carciniculture; distribution expansion; exotic species; freshwater prawn