New record of Macrobrachium equidens shrimp (Dana, 1852) (Crustacea: Decapoda: ‎Palamonidae) as invasive species in Al- Mashaab River, East of Al- Hammar marsh, ‎Southern Iraq

Abstract

A species of freshwater shrimp belonging to Macrobrachium Genus was recently recorded from Iraqi water. Morphological features accompanied by COI gene nucleotides sequencing identified that the shrimp species is Macrobrachum equidens, four forms of rostrum were observed. The total length of M. equidens recorded in this study was ranged from 40.38 - 55.33 mm for females and from 45.51 to 58.72 mm for males, while weight for females and males were 0.36 to 5.44g and 0.53 - 6.01 g respectively.