scholarly journals Cascading disturbances in Florida Bay, USA:cyanobacteria blooms, sponge mortality, and implications for juvenile spiny lobsters Panulirus argus

1995 ◽  
Vol 129 ◽  
pp. 119-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Butler ◽  
JH Hunt ◽  
WF Herrnkind ◽  
MJ Childress ◽  
R Bertelsen ◽  
...  
2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. i177-i184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin C. Gutzler ◽  
Mark J. Butler ◽  
Donald C. Behringer

Abstract Casitas are artificial shelters used by fishers to aggregate Caribbean spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus) for ease of capture. However, casitas may function as an ecological trap for juvenile lobsters if they are attracted to casitas and their growth or mortality is poorer compared with natural shelters. We hypothesized that juvenile lobsters may be at particular risk if attracted to casitas because they are less able than larger individuals to defend themselves, and do not forage far from shelter. We compared the nutritional condition, relative mortality, and activity of lobsters of various sizes in casitas and natural shelters in adult and juvenile lobster-dominated habitats in the Florida Keys (United States). We found that the ecological effects of casitas are complex and location-dependent. Lobsters collected from casitas and natural shelters did not differ in nutritional condition. However, juvenile lobsters in casitas experienced higher rates of mortality than did individuals in natural shelters; the mortality of large lobsters did not differ between casitas and natural shelters. Thus, casitas only function as ecological traps when deployed in nursery habitats where juvenile lobsters are lured by conspecifics to casitas where their risk of predation is higher. These results highlight the importance of accounting for animal size and location-dependent effects when considering the consequences of habitat modification for fisheries enhancement.


1997 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Childress ◽  
William F. Herrnkind

Spiny lobsters (Palinuridae) commonly share crevice shelters with conspecifics, a behaviour usually hypothesized to benefit mutually cooperative defenders through reduced predation risk. The group-defence hypothesis predicts a suite of distinct corollary life history traits and ecological correlates including more frequent co-denning than solitary denning, especially where predators or den competitors are numerous and when the lobsters are small, moulting or otherwise vulnerable. Two alternative co-denning hypotheses, the dilution effect (a type of selfish herding) and the guide effect (attraction to a denned conspecific), have different and distinctive sets of predictions. To test among these hypotheses, the den-sharing patterns of newly emerged postalgal juveniles of Panulirus argus and associated ecological conditions in the Florida Bay (USA) nursery habitat were examined. Only half of the juveniles shared dens, and rarely was den sharing in an area greater than that expected by chance. Den-sharing frequency was most highly correlated with conspecific density and scarcity of local dens. The lack of correlation between den sharing and lobster size, moult condition, shelter type and predator density failed to support either the group-defence or the dilution-effect hypothesis. Instead, the data better support the guide-effect hypothesis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
HJ Small ◽  
GD Stentiford ◽  
DC Behringer ◽  
MA Freeman ◽  
NAM Atherley ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 107457
Author(s):  
Jesús Alejandro Zamora-Briseño ◽  
Daniel Cerqueda-García ◽  
Ioreni Margarita Hernández-Velázquez ◽  
Rafael Rivera-Bustamante ◽  
Juan Pablo Huchín-Mian ◽  
...  

2001 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney D. Bertelsen ◽  
Thomas R. Matthews

Using diver surveys, we compared the size structure, fecundity, and reproductive season of spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus) in the Dry Tortugas National Park lobster sanctuary with those of spiny lobsters in the south Florida fishery. The number of lobsters of both sexes larger than the legal size limit declined sharply in the fishery but not in the sanctuary. Clutch sizes were larger in the Dry Tortugas sanctuary, averaging 0.8 million, than in the fishery, averaging 0.3 million. The reproductive season was shorter and more intense in the sanctuary than in the fishery. In addition, lobsters in the sanctuary begin producing eggs at a larger size and produce more eggs per gram of body mass than lobsters in the fishery. Peak egg production occurs earlier in larger lobsters than in small ones. Establishing a fundamental reason for the differences between lobster reproduction in the sanctuary and that in the fishery is not possible until the chronological age of lobsters can be determined, but one hypothesis consistent with these differences is that, if lobsters reproduce at a certain chronological age, then sublethal fishery practices may account for slower growth for some lobsters resulting in some smaller but older reproductively active lobsters.


1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 2228-2234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas R. Gregory Jr. ◽  
Ronald F. Labisky

Long-distance movements of the spiny lobster Panulirus argus were studied in two Gulf of Mexico habitats (Shallows, Mid-depth) and three Atlantic Ocean habitats (Shallows, Patch Reef, and Deep Reef) in the lower Florida Keys during the mid-1970's. Of 6062 spiny lobsters tagged and released at the five sites between June 1975 and August 1976, 465 of the 771 (13%) lobsters recovered yielded usable movement data. Eighty percent of the tags were recovered within the first 3 mo of the 8 mo commercial fishing season (July 26 – March 31). Directions and rates of movements differed significantly (P < 0.05) among sites. Movements from Gulf sites were generally oriented to the west and southwest, toward the Atlantic offshore reefs, at mean displacement velocities of 0.57 km/d (Mid-depth) and 0.24 km/d (Shallows). Movements of lobsters from the Atlantic sites were principally eastward and westward, parallel to the reef line and island chain, at mean displacement velocities of 0.02 km/d (Deep Reef) and 0.05 km/d (Shallows, Patch Reef). The more directed movements of spiny lobsters from Gulf sites may reflect a migration from nursery grounds to the Atlantic reefs, which not only constitute the primary spawning habitat but also exhibit a more stable winter environment than the shallow Gulf. Movements of spiny lobsters within Atlantic waters reflect localized random onshore–offshore dispersal patterns typical within reef environments.


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