Sexual maturity, reproductive season and fecundity of the spiny lobster Panulirus penicillatus from the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba), Red Sea

Abstract

Panulirus penicillatus Olivier (1791) (Decapoda: Palinuridae) is widely distributed in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and is the most common spiny lobster in the Red Sea. Female lobsters (n =234), were collected on four occasions in 1986 from the coral reef of Dahab, 110 km south of Eilat, Israel. Field data and the gonadal index indicated that the reproductive season was from February to October, during which the females spawned 2-4 times. In nature, females became sexually mature at a carapace length (CL) of 50 mm. This result was confirmed by morphometric analysis of the regression between pleopodal exopodite length and carapace length. The number of eggs per spawn (E) was related to CL by the equation E=2.715 ×(CL)^2.581. The incubation period of eggs was 35.5±1.0 days (±s.d.) at temperatures of 24-27ºC in the aquarium. The results are compared with data on P. penicillatus from other parts of its geographic range, and the effect of geographic isolation on reproduction is discussed.