Macrobrachium carcinus
species of freshwater shrimps
Macrobrachium carcinus is a species of fresh water shrimp known as the big claw river shrimp. It is native to streams, rivers and creeks from Florida to southern Brazil. It is the largest known species of Neotropical freshwater shrimp, growing up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and weighing as much as 850 grams (30 oz), although even larger specimens have been reported. It is an important species for commercial fishing in the Sao Francisco River basin, where it is known by the local name of pitu. M. carcinus is omnivorous, with a diet consisting of molluscs, small fish, algae, leaf litter and insects.
Macrobrachium carcinus has a tan or yellow body with dark brown stripes. Its chelae are unusually long and thin, to facilitate foraging for food in small crevices, and may be blue or green in color.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of freshwater shrimps. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3932093. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Macrobrachium carcinus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.