Phyllosoma larvae and other crustacean macrozooplankton associated with eddy J, a warm-core eddy of south-eastern Australia

Abstract

Crustacean macrozooplankton were more abundant in the surface waters outside compared with the surface waters inside eddy J and included a greater proportion of meroplankton. Small numbers of phyllosoma larvae of tropical and subtropical lobster species were found in the eddy, the dominant form being larvae of the tropical and subtropical spiny lobster, Panulirus longipes femoristriga. Larvae of the temperate and subtropical slipper lobster, Scyllarus bicuspidatus, dominated catches of phyllosoma larvae in waters outside the eddy and in the frontal region.