Recruitment strategies in lobsters and crabs: a comparison

Abstract

Early life-history characteristics that affect recruitment in spiny lobsters, clawed lobsters and crabs of the genus Cancer are reviewed. Spiny lobsters have many small eggs, a short period of parental care, and a long larval life that terminates in a swimming postlarva. Cancer species also have many small eggs, but have a longer period carrying eggs and a short larval life. Clawed lobsters have smaller clutches than the other two groups, long parental care and a short larval period. Acluster analysis on these and other characters in the 16 species considered shows that phylogeny dominates the clustering, because species of the same family group together. Within families, however, some possible environmental effects are seen. Spiny lobsters and Cancer crabs, with greater fecundity and presumably lower larval survival, may be predicted to have greater recruitment variability than clawed lobsters. The limited data available suggest that this is true.