The present study was undertaken in waters south of the Kuroshio Subgyre to
examine and/or test Sekiguchi’s (1985, 1997) hypothesis about the
larval recruitment processes of Panulirus japonicus by
which the benthic populations of the species are maintained in Japanese
waters. A total of 61 Panulirus phyllosoma larvae were
collected in early summer; 56 belonged to P. japonicus,
of which 30 were in the final stage, 24 in the subfinal stage, and 2 were too
heavily damaged to permit identification of the stage. Most of the final-stage
phyllosoma larvae were found in the northern part of the waters east of the
Ryukyu Archipelago, whereas the larvae in the subfinal stage were found in the
southern part. The present study supports Sekiguchi’s hypothesis that
late-stage P. japonicus phyllosoma larvae are transported
by the Kuroshio Countercurrent into waters east of the archipelago and then
again enter the Kuroshio Current.
Identification of late-stage phyllosoma larvae of the scyllarid and palinurid lobsters in the Japanese waters.