A REVIEW OF THE EFFECT OF GENETICS AND ENVIRONMENT ON THE MATURATION AND LARVAL QUALITY OF THE GIANT TIGER PRAWN PENAEUS-MONODON

Genetic and environmental effects are considered to play important rol es in determining maturation and larval quality of penaeid prawns, and the poor performance of pond-reared spawners of the giant tiger prawn , Penaeus monodon. Interactions between genetic and environmental fact ors, and between physical, nutritional and hormonal factors, make dise ntangling their effects difficult. Much of the research on these issue s to date has attempted trial and error changes to management practice s, particularly nutrition, and is based on superficial approaches usin g limited information on P. monodon biology. The development of effect ive technologies to achieve reliable reproduction of P. monodon, and t o improve egg and larval quality, in culture will require high-quality research on fundamental aspects of the physiology and genetics of the giant tiger prawn. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.