Substrate controls on the size composition of lobster (Homarus gammarus) populations

• Published in: ICES Journal of Marine Science
• Main Author: Howard, A. E.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1980
• Subjects: Articles; Homarus gammarus
• Online Access: http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/39/2/130; https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/39.2.130

The mean size of lobsters ( Homarus gammarus ) caught from the Norfolk (England) grounds has long been recognized as being smaller than that of lobsters from most of the other fisheries, but the cause has never been adequately explained. Diving observations revealed that the sea bed off Norfolk was not of the type which normally supports commercial lobsters, having fewer large-scale outcrops but more boulders and cobbles than in the other fisheries. The hypothesis that the habitat is limiting, because solid cover of appropriate size is essential to the survival of lobsters, has been investigated and the implications are discussed.