The diet of post-puerulus western rock lobster, Panulirus cygnus George, at Seven Mile Beach, Western Australia

1993 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 649 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Jernakoff ◽  
BF Phillips ◽  
JJ Fitzpatrick

Post-puerulus western rock lobsters (juveniles within their first year after settlement), taken from natural habitats and artificial collectors at Seven Mile Beach, had consumed a variety of plant and animal material. Post-pueruli in the natural environment foraged amongst seagrass and macroalgae on limestone reefs, and animals on the collectors probably foraged only on the collectors. The major components in the diet were coralline algae, molluscs and crustaceans. The ratios of these in the contents of the fore-gut were related to moult stage. Although the dietary spectrum of the post-pueruli was similar to that of larger juveniles at the same site, the ratios of food items were different.


1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 889 ◽  
Author(s):  
AP Thompson ◽  
JR Hanley ◽  
MS Johnson

Allozyme variation was used to investigate the genetic structure of the western rock lobster, Panulirus cygnus, along the coast of Western Australia. The study involved genetic surveys in 1980 and 1994. The first survey showed strong suggestions of latitudinal variation at two polymorphic loci, EST and GPI, but these suggestions were statistically suspect. With the benefit of hindsight gained from 1980, the 1994 survey was designed to examine more directly the suggestion of latitudinal genetic subdivision in this species. No evidence of genetic subdivision was found at either the EST or the GPI locus. In addition, the average FST value over nine polymorphic loci was a very low 0.0002. The evidence is consistent with current interpretations that P. cygnus is a single, panmictic population. In contrast with this spatial genetic homogeneity, however, there were significant changes in allelic frequencies at the GPI locus between 1980 and 1994, indicating genetic differences among cohorts.



2008 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kris Waddington

Knowledge regarding differences in evacuation rates of diet items from a consumer’s stomach is important when using gut content analysis to quantify consumer diet. Evacuation rates of three diet items (pilchards, crabs and coralline algae) from the foreguts of western rock lobsters (Panulirus cygnus) were compared in aquaria. To determine evacuation rates, lobsters were allowed to consume offered food over a 90-min feeding period before being killed at 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 h after the feeding period concluded. Diet items differed in their rate of evacuation from lobster foreguts with coralline algae evacuated most rapidly, followed by crabs, then pilchards. The evacuation of crabs and pilchards was still not complete 12 h after the feeding period concluded. Food not evacuated after 12 h predominantly consisted of hard components of the lobster diet, indicating that it is these components that account for slower evacuation. Observed variation in evacuation rates between diet items may skew the results of studies that use gut content analysis to quantify the diet of western rock lobsters.





2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 1631-1639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon de Lestang ◽  
Roy Melville-Smith

Abstract The moult cycle of mature female Panulirus cygnus was examined from data recorded over 32 years at four sites along the coast of Western Australia. A repeating trend for mature females was inferred from samples taken between 15 November and 15 August. Setae were present on the endopodites of all large females from June until February–March; between March and June the proportions of females with setae declined sharply as about 80% moulted into a non-setose phase. Females that did not undergo this moult in February remained setose throughout the “normal” non-setose period before moulting and producing a new set of setae by midwinter. New or eroded spermatophores were present on most large females between November and January, but their presence declined sharply during the February–March moult, to be absent by May. The percentage of mature females that bypassed the non-setose moult varied markedly from 1% to 40%, and was well correlated with mean water temperatures in January and February. The proportion that did not undergo a moult increased when these months were cool but decreased when they were warm. The size (carapace width) at which females carry two batches of eggs in one breeding season (double breeder) declined progressively from 96.6 mm to 84.1 mm with decreasing latitude (32°S to 28°S), and further declined at the offshore Abrolhos Islands (29°S) to 78.7 mm. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to management measures designed to protect females in a setose condition.





2007 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 286 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Babcock ◽  
J. C. Phillips ◽  
M. Lourey ◽  
G. Clapin

Surveys of spiny lobster (Panulirus cygnus) populations in shallow waters surrounding Rottnest Island in Western Australia revealed much higher levels of density, biomass and egg production in no-take than in fished areas. Density of lobsters was ~34 times higher in the sanctuary, and density of lobsters above minimum legal size around 50 times higher than in other areas around the island where recreational fishing is allowed. Mean carapace length (CL), total biomass and egg production of lobsters in the sanctuary zone were significantly higher than in adjacent fished areas. Large individuals (≥100 mm CL), especially large males, were found almost exclusively within the sanctuary. The abundance of mature animals in these shallow waters indicates that not all P. cygnus migrate to deep water and that shallow water habitats may currently be well below carrying capacity in terms of biomass and egg production. If implemented in a systematic way, unfished areas such as the Kingston Reefs could also provide a useful fisheries-independent tool for assessing trophic interactions and the structure and density of unfished populations, and for estimating parameters such as growth of larger individuals that may be rare or absent in more widely fished populations.



2018 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 775-800
Author(s):  
Nick Caputi ◽  
Ming Feng ◽  
Ainslie Denham ◽  
Simon de Lestang ◽  
James Penn ◽  
...  


2001 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Melville-Smith ◽  
Sonia M. Anderton ◽  
Nick Caputi

The number of fishers purchasing recreational rock-lobster licences in Western Australia increased from ~15 000 during 1986–87 to 33 000 during 1998–99. The quantity landed was estimated from mail surveys conducted during this period. The recreational catch of western rock lobster increased from approximately 220 to 630 tonnes, or from 1.8% to 4.8% of the commercial catch. This study has shown that total recreational catches of western rock lobster in Western Australia are correlated with licence usage rates (r2 = 0.81) and puerulus settlement indices at Alkimos, in the southern region of the fishery, 3 to 4 years earlier (r2 = 0.59). A multipleregression analysis using both of these variables (r2 = 0.91) was used to predict future recreational lobster catches. If future usage were to remain at 1998–99 levels, it is predicted that the recreational catch would be 700 t in 1999–2000, 650 t in 2000–01, and 550 t in 2001–02. We attempted to improve predictions by analysing the data according to puerulus settlement and licence usage in the two coastal management regions. The correlation for the southern region (where most of the recreational fishing is concentrated) was marginally better than that for the total fishery (r2 = 0.93), but the correlation was poor for the northern coastal zone (r2 = 0.55), where licence usage has been relatively steady and where the recreational catch has consistently remained at around 98 t per annum over the last decade.





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