Wild brooders of African river prawn Macrobrachium vollenhovenii were caught from Congo, and larvae were obtained by artificial propagation in a hatchery in the Central African Republic. The larvae were observed to have 15 stages. After that, its morphology transforms into post-larvae, where the 1st post-larval stage is the start of its freshwater life. In the giant freshwater prawn, M. rosenbergii, 11 larval stages have been previously described. Morphological differences during larval development of the two freshwater prawns are compared and discussed.
Key words: African river prawn Macrobrachium vollenhoveni, Giant freshwater prawn M. rosenbergii, Larval morphology