Distribution: This is an important Indo-West Pacific species ranging widely from South Africa into the Red Sea through the entire Malay Archipelago to Korea, Japan and Northern Australia, where it is found in the Northern Territory, the Gulf of Carpentaria and North Queensland. The species has migrated through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean and is now caught off Southern Turkey. It is a marine shrimp, living on sandy mud and sand bottoms at depths up to 90 meters (about 300 feet).

Comments: This species is one of most important species in Japan and is a major species in the South China Sea. It provides regular catches in the Philippines and in East Africa. It is highly regarded in Japan, where it is used head-on fresh as well as in more usual processed forms. This shrimp is very similar to P. canaliculatus, the witch prawn.