tance larvae must travel from the spawning 

 grounds to the southern areas. 



Postembryonic Development 

 LARVAE, POSTLARVAE, AND JUVENILES 



No studies have been conducted on either larval 

 or postlarval stages of P. paulensis. The number of 

 juvenile specimens available to me was too small 

 to permit conclusions. 



GROWTH 



No studies have been made. 

 SEX DIFFERENCES IN SIZE 



The largest female I examined was 54 mm. c.l., 

 215 mm. t.l., from off Eio de Janeiro; the largest 

 male was 40 mm. c.l., I7l mm. t.l., from off Ponta 

 do Boi, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Offshore the females 

 ai-e larger than males, and the size of both sexes 

 increases with depth. 



Ecology 



SUBSTRATE 



Little is known of the habits of this shrimp. 

 Juveniles and subadults occupy soft muddy bot- 

 toms, but the largest concentrations of adults are 

 on bottoms of firm mud. 



DIEL CYCLE 



P. jMuleTisis is mostly nocturnal; fishing for 

 young on the nursery grounds and for adults off- 

 shore is carried on at night. 



EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE 



P. paulensis has a wide range of temperature 

 tolerance since it occupies the waters of southeast- 

 ern Brazil, where temperature is highly variable, 

 and penetrates into the coast of northeast Argen- 

 tina, where the water is relatively cold. 

 EFFECTS OF SALINITY 



There is little information on the eft'ect of salin- 

 ity on P. jmulcn.sis. 



According to Closs {In Mistakidis, 1965), salin- 

 ities in the southern portion of Lagoa dos Patos, 

 the single largest nui-sery area for the species, vary 

 from 1 p.p.t. to 29 p.p.t., and Mistakidis ( 1965) 

 reported that in the coastal lakes of Uruguay 

 salinities range from 2 p.p.t. to 26 p.p.t. This 

 sju-imp, thus, seems to be able to witlistand a 

 rather wide range of salinity during the inshore 

 l)liase of its life cycle. Production from the nursery 

 areas, howe\-er, shows large fluctuations from year 

 to year, and it has been suggested by Lindner 

 (1957) and Mistakidis (1965) that in Lagoa dos 

 Patos, at least, declines in production are probably 

 caused by excessive rainfall. Lindner states that 



"excessive quantities of fresh water in Lagoa dos 

 Patos might restrict the area of slirimp nui-seiy 

 grounds." The reduced production could be due 

 also to swift currents following heavy rainfalls 

 which might pre\ient the shrimp from gaining 

 access to inshore water. 



Commercial Importance 



This species is not locally distinguislied from P. 

 irasiliensis. Both are known and classified in 

 statistical studies as camarao rosa. Consequently, 

 it is not possible to ascertain the quantities of P. 

 paul€7i.sis that are caught. 



The young of P. paulensis are commercially 

 taken in Baia de Guanabara, Brazil, and from 

 numerous lagoons and coastal lakes as far south as 

 Laguna de Rocha, Uiaiguay. Offshore fishing is 

 more restricted and is carried out only in the 

 northern portion of the range, from off Baia de 

 Guanabara to the neighborhood of Rio Grande. 



It seems that the majority of the camarao rosa 

 landed at Santos, Sao Paulo, is P. paulensis (Mis- 

 takidis, 1965). The Instituto de Pesca Maritima of 

 Sao Paulo, Brazil, calculated that landings of 

 camarao rosa in Santos — the most important port 

 for landings from the ocean fishery — were 891,000 

 kg. in 1964, 1,868,000 kg. in 1965, and 2,157,300 

 kg. in 1966. 



Landings of camarao rosa in the State of Rio 

 Grande do Sul — almost entirely P. paulensis 

 (Mistakidis, 1965) — present large annual fluctua- 

 tions as shown by the landings from 1963 to 1966. 

 The Centro de Pesquisas Oceanograficas do Rio 

 Grande reported tliat the production reached 

 4,913,700 kg. in 1963, decreased to 1,568,600 kg. in 



1964, rose to an all-time high of 5,844,400 kg. in 



1965, and amounted to only 648,300 kg. in 1966. 



Penaeus (Melicertus) brasiliensis 

 Latreille 



Figures 68 to 77 



United States: pink spotted shrimp, spotted 

 pink shrimp, brown shrimp, Caribbean brown 

 shrimp. Nicaragua: camaron rojo. Venezuela: 

 langostino rosado con nianchas, camaron rosado 

 con manchas, langostino amarillo. Brazil : cama- 

 rao rosa, camarao lixo. 



Penaeus brasiliensis LintreiWe, 1817: 156 (neotype, 

 designated by Burkenroad, 1939, 9 , British 

 Museum (Natural History), Brazil) ; H. Milne 

 Edwards, 1837; 415; Stimpson, 1871: 132 

 [part]; Miers, 1878: 299, 306 [part]; Bate, 

 1881: 175; Smith, 1885; 170; Doflein, 1899: 



562 



U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



