University of Tasmania
Browse
- No file added yet -

Determination of Moulting Events in Rock Lobsters from Pleopod clipping

Download (833.31 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 19:16 authored by Caleb GardnerCaleb Gardner, Mills, DJ
Rock lobster growth is routinely measured for research to optimise management measures such as size limits and quotas. The process of estimating growth is complicated in crustaceans as growth only occurs when the animal moults. As data are typically collected by tag-recapture methods, the timing of moulting events can bias results. For example, if annual moulting events take place within a very short time-at-large after tagging, or if time-at-large is long and no moulting occurs. Classifying data into cases where moulting has / has not occurred during time-at-large can be required and can generally be determined by change in size between release and recapture. However, in old or slow growth individuals the moult increment can be too small to provide surety that moulting has occurred. A method that has been used since the 1970’s to determine moulting in rock lobsters involves clipping the distal portion of a pleopod so that any regeneration observed at recapture can be used as evidence of a moult. We examined the use of this method in both tank and long-duration field trials within a marine protected area, which provided access to large animals with smaller growth increments. Our results emphasised that determination of moulting by change in size was unreliable with larger lobsters and that pleopod clipping can assist in identifying moulting events. However, regeneration was an unreliable measure of moulting if clipping occurred less than three months before the moult.

History

Publication title

PLoS One

Volume

8

Issue

8

Article number

e74146

Number

e74146

Pagination

1-9

ISSN

1932-6203

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Public Library of Science

Place of publication

United States

Rights statement

Copyright 2013 the Author

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Wild caught rock lobster

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC