Reproductive biology & toxicology of freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium dayanum

Smaller freshwater prawns in India like Macrobrachium lamarrei and Macrobrachium dayanum have abbreviated development, are completely confined to freshwater and don’t need brackish water for their larval development are a promising candidate for aquaculture in central India. To culture, any species, knowledge of its reproductive biology is an essential requirement that has been studied with very few large freshwater prawn species only. Smaller freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium dayanum (Henderson) is available throughout the year in river Gomti, Lucknow, U.P. India which has been reported for the first time from the Lucknow region by our Lab. It fulfils almost all the criteria to become a potential candidate for culture in Central India, which will be a step towards self-entrepreneurship in rural areas also. Considering this, the study of reproductive biology and effects of heavy metal cadmium on reproduction of Macrobrachium dayanum has been brought into a comprehensive book form. We hope this book will be helpful to culture practices, crustacean biologists, Zoologists and Toxicologists as well. Being a type animal of syllabi of various Indian Universities this will be directly beneficial to the students of Zoology as well as fisheries.