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The effects of body size on the food intake, growth and conversion efficiency of the freshwater prawn Palaemon lamarrei have been studied. In captivity, fed on a restricted diet of the muscles of the fish Gambusia affinis, moulting in these prawns occurred once in 18 + 5 days at a temperature of 26 f 1°C. The importance of these cast moults, contributing a sizable amount of organic matter to the detritus deposit of freshwater habitats has been indicated. In a log-log system, both food intake and growth per day, represented as a percentage of body weight, showed an inverse relationship to the body size. Animals in the size range of 600-800 mg exhibited the highest conversion efficiency. The present study indicates that these prawns can be successfully reared and grown under laboratory conditions.

Bilateral eyestalk ablation in the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium lanchesteri results in high mortality, while unilateral eyestalk ablated prawns exhibited a high survival rate. There was marked increase in the growth of bilateral eyestalk-ablated prawns (47.70 mg/prawn) as compared to those that were unilaterally ablated (19.19 mg/prawn).