The southern rough shrimp Trachysalambria curvirostris is one of the dominant, small-sized penaeid species in the benthic community of Kagoshima Bay, southern Japan. The growth pattern and longevity of T. curvirostris were estimated from monthly length-frequency distributions of 11,345 specimens collected from June 2002 to December 2005. Carapace length (CL) ranged from 6.2-21.8 mm in males and 3.3-27.4 mm in females. Both males and females were first recruited in August or September with modal sizes around 9.0 mm CL. The growth of T. curvirostris was best described by the Pauly and Gaschütz equation as L_t  =  19.04[1 − exp−1.201(t/12 0.372) − (0.562/2π)sin(2π(t/12 − 0.723))}] for males and L_t  =  28.89[1 − exp−1.306(t/12 0.051) − (0.761/2π)sin(2π(t/12 − 0.797))}] for females. Females recorded higher growth performance indices compared to males of the same age group. The monthly growth rates and the percentage occurrence of soft-shelled individuals in both sexes tended to decrease with progression of age. The relationship between carapace length and body weight showed negative allometry, for both males and females. The longevity of this species was estimated to be around 18 months for both sexes.