Sublethal disturbance may lead to behavioral modifications that have detrimental consequences for the individual. Sublethal disturbance is an indirect effect of fishing that has seldom been examined. In summer 2003, we conducted surveys on the Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus in the Florida Keys, USA, before and after a 2 d mini-season exclusively for recreational sportdivers to assess t...

Previous studies suggest that urine-borne pheromones play an important role in lobster agonistic and sexual behaviour. This paper investigates the pattern of urine release in catheterised, but otherwise freely moving, adult lobsters with respect to feeding, social and non-social activities. Lobsters on average released 4.1 ml (1 % of body mass) of urine over a 12 h period; this more than double...

As other spiny lobsters, Panulirus argus is supposed to use preferentially proteins and lipids in energy metabolism, while carbohydrates are well digested but poorly utilized. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary carbohydrate level on digestion and metabolism in the spiny lobster P. argus. We used complementary methodologies such as post-feeding flux of nutrients and meta...

The incidence of epizootic shell disease in American lobster Homarus americanus has increased in southern New England, U.S.A., in the last decade, but few longitudinal studies have followed the disease progress in individual lobsters or demonstrated direct effects on mortality or growth. Diseased lobsters were held in the laboratory for 1 yr, and the progression of disease and its effects on mo...

Beginning in the late 1980s, lobster (Homarus americanus) landings for the state of Maine and the Bay of Fundy increased to levels more than three times their previous 20-year means. Reduced predation may have permitted the expansion of lobsters into previously inhospitable territory, but we argue that in this region the spatial patterns of recruitment and the abundance of lobsters are substant...

Abundance of juvenile lobsters at the new outfall site: comparisons with inshore abundances and discussion of potential impacts on lobster populations. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) was mandated by the Outfall Monitoring Task Force (OMTF) to design and execute a study in the cobble-boulder habitats of the new outfall nearfield region for determination of the density of earl...

We conducted laboratory experiments to investigate interpopulation differences in the behavioural responses of the whelk Buccinum undatum to the predatory lobster Homarus americanus and the asteroid Leptasterias polaris, both in the absence and presence of feeding opportunities. Whelks from three populations in the eastern North Atlantic (1) responded to lobsters by displaying avoidance behavio...

Lobsters and other crustaceans do not have sterile hemolymph. Despite this, little is known about the microbiome in hemolymph of lobster Homarus americanus . The purpose this study was to characterize lobsters. lobsters were part a larger on effect temperature epizootic shell disease, several died during course study, providing an opportunity examine differences microbiomes between live recentl...

Shell disease is a problem affecting lobsters in eastern Long Island Sound causing disfiguration of the shell, decreasing the lobsters’ value, and whereas mild and medium levels of the disease are not lethal, ultimately, severe cases result in mortality. Levels of the molting hormone, ecdysone, were quantitated, using a radioimmunoassay (RIA), in hemolymph of animals exhibiting shell disease. O...

American lobsters produce carapace vibrations, which also lead to waterborne acoustic signals, by simultaneously contracting the antagonistic remotor and promotor muscles located at the base of the second antenna. These vibrations have a mean frequency of 183.1 Hz (range 87-261 Hz), range in duration from 68 to 1720 ms (mean 277.1 ms) and lead to waterborne sounds of similar frequencies. Lobste...