American Lobster, Homarus americanus , Reproduction and Recruitment in a New England Estuary
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American Lobster, Homarus americanus, Reproduction and Recruitment in a New England Estuary Elizabeth M. Moore 1 & Thomas G. Langley 1 & Jason S. Goldstein 2 & Winsor H. Watson III 1 Received: 2 October 2019 / Revised: 14 April 2020 / Accepted: 14 May 2020 # Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation 2020
Abstract While egg-bearing (ovigerous) American lobsters are found in estuaries, it is not known if they are present when their eggs hatch. The major goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that a portion of the larvae that serve as new recruits to the Great Bay Estuary lobster population originate from females that are year-around residents. First, a total of nine ovigerous lobsters were fitted with acoustic transmitters and tracked from October through the following spring-to-early summer. We found that all lobsters overwintered in the estuary and were located again within 1 km of their fall positions the following May–June, when their eggs likely hatched. Second, sea sampling surveys carried out in the spring revealed that ovigerous lobsters in the estuary were carrying more developed eggs than their coastal counterparts. Third, through a series of laboratory-based studies, we calculated the putative hatch dates of egg clutches carried by estuarine and coastal lobsters and show that estuarine lobster eggs likely hatch 2–3 weeks earlier than eggs carried by coastal females. Finally, plankton tow surveys in the estuary revealed that stage I larval lobsters (zoeae) were present in the estuary from May to July, which encompasses the predicted hatching period for both estuarine and coastal eggs. Therefore, new recruits to the Great Bay Estuary lobster population likely come from both resident estuarine lobsters and coastal females. Keywords Homarus americanus . Lobster . Larvae . Recruitment . Estuary . Acoustic telemetry
Introduction The American lobster (Homarus americanus) ranges from North Carolina to Newfoundland and Labrador, and encompasses both wide-spread inshore and offshore subpopulations. While they are most abundant in offshore and coastal waters, lobsters of all life stages do have a limited ability to osmoregulate (Dall 1970; Jury et al. 1994a; Charmantier Communicated by Nancy L. Jackson Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00759-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Elizabeth M. Moore [email protected] 1
Department of Biological Sciences, School of Marine Sciences and Ocean Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03823, USA
2
Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Maine Coastal Ecology Center, Wells, ME 04090, USA
et al. 2001) and commonly inhabit estuaries, bays, and inlets ranging from Rhode Island to Atlantic Canada and Quebec (Thomas 1968; Thomas and White 1969; Munro and Therriault 1983; Wahle 1993; Howell et al. 1999; Rowe 2001; Short et al. 2001). From spring through early fall, these habitats tend to be warmer and it has been suggested that lobsters mig
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