Large king prawns are generally exported frozen, green and head-off. Small to medium ones are sold in Australia cooked whole. They are found along the eastern coast of Australia from Lakes Entrance in Victoria to North Reef in Queensland. They are caught as juveniles in estuaries during spring and summer and as adults on the Continental shelf at depths of 60 to 220 metres from mid-summer through to winter. Normally male eastern king prawns grow to a length of 19cm and weight 110g, while the females can grow to 30cm and weigh 220g.
Females have a plate-like thelycum at the base of the last pair of walking legs.
They are caught by deep sea netting, or in estuaries by a hand-held net wielded by a wading person using a bright light to attract the juveniles. The light also reflects off their eyes, glowing red, so you can see them at night. Click here for a complete listing of pages on the Sea-Ex site.