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Movement of wild European lobsters Homarus gammarus in natural habitat

Movement of wild European lobsters Homarus gammarus in natural habitat
Movement of wild European lobsters Homarus gammarus in natural habitat
Most previous mark-recapture studies of the movement of European lobsters have used externally attached tags which were lost at ecdysis, restricting the range of possible recapture intervals. Published studies of this species with tags designed to be retained through ecdysis have focussed on artificially reared lobsters, or wild lobsters released in artificial habitat. Here, we report a mark-recapture study of the mobility of wild European lobsters conducted in 3 areas on the south coast of England, using persistent tags.
Tagged lobsters were smaller than the fishery minimum landing size (50 to 84 mm carapace length) and were therefore likely to be predominantly sexually immature. The majority of these lobsters do not appear to undertake extensive alongshore or on-/offshore migrations. Recapture distances ranged from 0 to 45 km, but 95% of recaptured lobsters moved <3.8 km from their original release positions over periods of up to 862 d. Distance moved did not differ between males and females, but there was a weak positive relationship between recapture distance and body size.
The directional distribution of movements >0.5 km differed between the 3 study areas and appeared to be related to the spatial configuration of local lobster habitat, but with a marked tendency for offshore movement in 2 of the areas. Movements >5 km from all 3 release areas, which comprised 5% of recaptures after >6 mo, were generally undertaken by larger lobsters and were almost exclusively to the west or southwest, against the general direction of tide- and wind-generated residual water movement in the English Channel.
lobster, mark-recapture, movements, migrations, tagging, biology
0171-8630
177-186
Smith, I.P.
751766ba-dd51-4419-a5ad-a582d9c45c6e
Jensen, A.C.
ff1cabd2-e6fa-4e34-9a39-5097e2bc5f85
Collins, K.J.
9c436eb8-add5-460e-9900-5d1d128dc63d
Mattey, E.L.
7cc20406-53ae-4c08-b7bf-f93ebabe1316
Smith, I.P.
751766ba-dd51-4419-a5ad-a582d9c45c6e
Jensen, A.C.
ff1cabd2-e6fa-4e34-9a39-5097e2bc5f85
Collins, K.J.
9c436eb8-add5-460e-9900-5d1d128dc63d
Mattey, E.L.
7cc20406-53ae-4c08-b7bf-f93ebabe1316

Smith, I.P., Jensen, A.C., Collins, K.J. and Mattey, E.L. (2001) Movement of wild European lobsters Homarus gammarus in natural habitat. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 222, 177-186. (doi:10.3354/meps222177).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Most previous mark-recapture studies of the movement of European lobsters have used externally attached tags which were lost at ecdysis, restricting the range of possible recapture intervals. Published studies of this species with tags designed to be retained through ecdysis have focussed on artificially reared lobsters, or wild lobsters released in artificial habitat. Here, we report a mark-recapture study of the mobility of wild European lobsters conducted in 3 areas on the south coast of England, using persistent tags.
Tagged lobsters were smaller than the fishery minimum landing size (50 to 84 mm carapace length) and were therefore likely to be predominantly sexually immature. The majority of these lobsters do not appear to undertake extensive alongshore or on-/offshore migrations. Recapture distances ranged from 0 to 45 km, but 95% of recaptured lobsters moved <3.8 km from their original release positions over periods of up to 862 d. Distance moved did not differ between males and females, but there was a weak positive relationship between recapture distance and body size.
The directional distribution of movements >0.5 km differed between the 3 study areas and appeared to be related to the spatial configuration of local lobster habitat, but with a marked tendency for offshore movement in 2 of the areas. Movements >5 km from all 3 release areas, which comprised 5% of recaptures after >6 mo, were generally undertaken by larger lobsters and were almost exclusively to the west or southwest, against the general direction of tide- and wind-generated residual water movement in the English Channel.

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More information

Published date: 2001
Keywords: lobster, mark-recapture, movements, migrations, tagging, biology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 7951
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/7951
ISSN: 0171-8630
PURE UUID: 53902423-0ef4-4e0d-b1ed-bbb1851ec379
ORCID for A.C. Jensen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8924-1198

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 Aug 2004
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:34

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Contributors

Author: I.P. Smith
Author: A.C. Jensen ORCID iD
Author: K.J. Collins
Author: E.L. Mattey

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