Blue Tailed Prawns 蓝尾
I am featuring three different types of Sua Lor in this post. They all belong to the Metapenaeus family. One of the characteristic of this the Metapenaeus family is the lack of teeth at the bottom edge of the rostrum. This family has very distinctive sexual organs which are key to correctly identifying them.
The two Sua Lors that are most commonly found at the wet markets are the red tail Greasybacks (M. ensis) and the blue tail Middle Prawn (M intermedius). Between the two, the blue tails are favoured for their better flavour. You can easily recognize them by the purplish blue tips on the tails.