Reproductive biology of spiny lobster Panulirus regius from the northwestern Cape Verde Islands

摘要

Green (spiny) lobsters Panulirus regius were obtainedby diving at Cape Verde, West Africa, during three sampling periods: May-November 2001, April-December and April-June 2003. Totals of 429 male lobstersand 423 females (852 in all) were caught. Half thefemales were ovigerous throughout the samplingperiods. Female estimated size-at-50% maturity was87.9mm carapace length (CL). Brood size and eggdevelopmental stage were examined in 68 ovigerousfemales. The relationship between brood size (BS,thousands of eggs) and CL (mm) was BS = 1.59CL~(2 77).Females in the size-class 100-105mm and 115-120mmCL produced half the eggs in the population. Based onthese results, an increase in the minimum landing sizeis proposed. The potential implementation of a maximum landing size is discussed.