Acoustic tag retention of the Mediterranean slipper lobster Scyllarides latus (Latreille, 1802) in the Azores

Schmiing, Mara; Afonso, Pedro

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/447

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Authors

Schmiing, Mara

Afonso, Pedro

Abstract(s)

Moulting, growth and retention of externally attached acoustic tags were studied in ten Mediterranean slipper lobsters, Scyllarides latus (Latreille, 1802). Animals were kept in a cage at 20 m depth in Faial Island, Azores, over a period of nine months. No negative effects of tag attachment on moult or behaviour were detected, but a negative effect on growth cannot be excluded. Moulting was correlated with ambient water temperature and resulted in an increase of approximately 7% in mean size and 17% in mean weight. The results demonstrate that the use of externally attached acoustic transmitters in this species is adequate for medium-term movement studies but not for longer-term annual studies, due to the rate of molting.