Biological features of jinga shrimp, Metapenaeus affinis (milne edwars, 1837) from Kedah coastal water of Malaysia

Abstract

Biological features of size at maturity, size distribution, carapace length (CL) - body weight (BW) relationship and sex ratio were studied from 300 of M affinis species (147 males and 153 females) sampled from Kedah coastal water of Malaysia on October 2011. This result indicates that the M affinis species can attain sexual maturity (CL50) at 3.6 cm CL for male and 3.7 cm CL for female. Size distribution for male and female shrimp was found to be abundance at range of 3.5 - 3.99 cm CL. The mean CL - BW relationship of male shrimp are 3.23 cm CL (range: 3.23 -4.96 cm; n = 147) and 5.3 g BW (range: 5.3 - 17.503 g; n = 147) respectively, while mean of CL - BW relationship for female shrimp were 3.29 cm CL (range: 3.29 -4.89 cm; n = 153) and 5.32 g BW (range: 5.32 - 17.946 g; n = 153). The CL-BW relationship for male was attained as BW = 0.7905e0·6357cL(R2 = 0.9041; n = 147) and for female was estimated as BW = 0.6383eo.6876CL (R2 = 0.9032; n = 153) respectively. Finally, the overall sex ratio was identified as 1 : 1.04. The data obtained from this study can be used as baseline data which is helpful in aquaculture field and fisheries management hence helps to ensure the population sustainability of this species.