This authoritative review will be valuable reference for marine biologists, ecologists, and taxonomists. It is also an essential handbook for the penaeid fisheries biologist or aquaculturist and is a prerequisite for the rational exploitation and cultivation of penaeids. Although penaeids are a large and diverse decapod group which have been exploited commercially in both fisheries and aquaculture for hundreds of years, no comprehensive review of their biology has never been written. The group's commercial importance has led to an unbalanced literature, dominated by the fisheries and aquaculture aspects of the genus Penaeus, often without an appreciation of their underlying biology. This review adopts a multidisciplinary approach to give a comprehensive and up-to-date account of morphology, taxonomy (including larvae), zoogeography, physiology, reproduction, feeding, growth, behaviour, and life histories. Chapters discussing the parasites of, and predation on penaeids, are also included. So much new material is presented that the book is more than just a review of the existing literature. In synthesising the published information across this diverse family, it puts the commercially important species and genera into a larger perspective, pointing to deficiencies in our understanding and creating a framework for areas of future research.