Males bear a notch near the tip of the fifth walking leg.
School prawns are endemic to waters off the east coast of Australia. Postlarval to adolescent school prawns inhabit estuaries. Adult school prawns can also be found in estuaries but are found predominantly in oceanic waters. Juvenile school prawns prefer to live in seagrass areas within estuaries, although they are also present on bare substrates of fine to moderately coarse sand. Adult school prawns are most abundant in turbid marine waters arising from estuarine discharge after heavy rainfall or river floods.