THE PUERULUS SETTLEMENT OF RED SPINY LOBSTER (PANULlRUS INTERRUPTUS) IN BAHÍA TORTUGAS, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

BY

SERGIO A. GUZMÁN-DEL PRÓ01,3), JORGE CARRILLO-LAGUNA1),�

JORGE BELMAR-PÉREZ1,3), SARA DE LA CAMPA 1. 1) and ALEJANDRO VILLA B2

)�

1) Escuela nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, I.P.N. Prol. Carpio y Plan de Ayala, Mexico D.F.� 11340, Mexico�

2) Cooperativa de Producción Pesquera Bahía Tortugas Bahía Tortugas B.C.S., Mexico� 3) Becario COFAA�

AB:..;c'R¡\CT

The settlement of the puerulus stage of the Red Spiny Lobster (PanuLirus interruptus) was measured in Bahía Tortugas, Baja California, using artificial collectors of the GuSi type. In the period 1993-1995 monthly sampling during the new moon phase was carried out.

Catch rates per collector ranged fram I to 10 pueruli. Mean catch per site ranged from O to 2.52 puerulus/collector/new moon phase. The general settlement pattern showed a conspicuous seasonal cycle where autumn was the dominant season, during spring there was a second minor peak. In both years September and October showed the highest catche,,_ but :.:eptember 1994 to February 1995 wa~ a longer settlement period with maximum catches. The carapace length varied from 6.5 to 33.5 mm 7.5 mm being the most frequent size. Thc scason of maximum settlement seems to be relalcd with a maximum sea temperature (20 to 21°C) which in Baja California occurs during the autumn.

RÉSUMÉ

L'établissement du stade puerulus de la langouste rauge (PanuLirus interruptus) a été mesuré dans la Baie de Tortugas en Basse Californie en employant des collecteurs artificiels du type GuSi. Les observations ont été mensuelles, pendant chaque nouvelle lune, de 1993 a 1995. Les taux de capture par collecteur varient de 1 a 10 pueruli. J,e tam~ moyen de capture par site a été de O a 2,52 puerulus/collecteur/phase nouvelle lune. . ,,:s modalités de l' établissement ont montré un cycle sai,:onnier tres net avec comme saison dominante ¡-automne et l'existence pendant le printemps d'un deuxieme pic moins élevé. Pour les dcux années, on a enregistré les captures maximales en septembre et octobre; cependant de septembre 1994 a février 1995 il Y a eu une période plus longue d'etablissemenl avec des captures maximales. La longueur du céphalothorax

dane les échantillons variait de 6,5 a33,5 mm. La saison d' établissement maximal paraí't etre en relation avec la température maximale de la mer (20 a21°C), ce qui arrive en automne dans la

Basse CaJifornic.

© E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1996 Crustaceana 69 (8)

1I I

I

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950 S A GUZMÁN-DEL PRÓü ET AL

INTROOUCTION

The red spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus (Randal], 1840) ("California spiny lobster" according to the FAO vernacular names list) on the Pacific coast of Baja California is the subject of a valuable marine fishery (9.4 miJlion U.S. dollars,

Anuario Estadístico de Pesca, 1990) for Mexico. AnIlUal catch has stabilized at around 1200 metric tons. but the historic catch records show consistent peri­odic f1uctuations which seems to be related with variations in reclUitment levels

(Phillips et al., 1994b). For the fishery one of the most successful methods for assessing recruitment

and to predict the strength of the future year classes, has been the use of artificial collectors for the puelUlus postlarval stage of palinurid species. The method, ap­

plied formerly by Australian researchers in P cygnus George, 1962, has proved ¡hat there is a clear correlation between commercial catches and the settlement larval index, both measured through time series (Phillips, 1986). It makes the

method a valuable predictive tool for management purposes and has encour­

aged its application in otber species of spiny lobster. Two other countries, New ~ealand and Cuba, have successfully implemented the use of artificial collectors (HelTokind et al., 1994; Baisre & Cruz, 1994). Both countries have also found

links between the levels of puerulus settlement and catches; however, they have not yet been able to predict catches (Phíllips et al., 1994a).

In Mexico, the initial research on ¡his subject has been developed recently in

the Caribbean area with P argus (Latreille, 1804) (cf. Briones-fourzan, 1992). Due to the importance of P interruptus in the Mexican fisheries and with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the recruitment and population dynamics of this species, we conducted experiments on the puerulus stage sel­

tlement of the red spiny lobster in the central area of tbe Pacific Coast of Baja California. The results of two years of observation (1993-1995) with artificial

collectors are provided in this article.

METHOOS

The experimental unit we used was a GuSi collector (Gutierrez-Carbonell et al.,

1992) which consists, in short, of a 20 1plastic bucket covered by "fi lastica" (long narrow plastic strips u~ed to protect trawl shrimp gears). Once the col lector is

assembled it simulates a seaweed habitat. The experiment was carried out at Bahía Tortugas, one of lhe most important

lobster fishery areas in Baja Califomia (Anuario Estadístico de Pesca, 1992). The collector set (4 to 10 buckets) were placed in shoreline waters close to the SE

-----

951 PUERULUSSETTLEMENT

27"42' N __

114c55'W ­

'\f+Picudo

flll BII 27"38'N

114°50' W

~ 81 . +

Ballza .•;'.•

MAlI .'. + MAl ·'·~K:IIIRII

Morro de L...f; .. + Adentro <:.:... ..:;:

Rl +

PACIFIC OCEAN

50000

Fig. 1. Study area, Bahía Tortugas, B.C.S., Mexico. :Jampling siles.

tip of the bay. They were distributed along the sheltered side of a rocky channel and a narrow band of islands which is an extension of the bay tip (fig. 1).

During the experiment 11 different sites were tested; at the end of the experi­ment, this was reduced to four sites, placed in the areas of highest larval density. Collectors were spaced at 30 m and anchored at 3 m maximum depth without

touching the bottom. Monthly sampling d..::ring the new :noon phase was done from March 1993 to

March 1995. The collectors were brought up and strongly shaken over a sieving frame in the boato All pueruli caught were preserved and kept for measuring and for closer examination. For the purpose of this study we defined as a puerulus stage those organisms that were transparent, as a postpuerulus stage those that showed initial pigmentation, and as juveniles those showing a full pigmentation. According to Lipcius & Cobb (1994), however, Our three categories should be classed as pueruli and juveniles only, but we decided all the same to keep the

three classes separate under the above na;nes.

952 S. A GUZMÁ!\-DEL PRÓü ET AL.

RESULTS

In general all sites used provided good results in catching pueruli, especially

those near the tips of the islands. However, those near Punta el Arvin (Al, AH) and those in front of a reef with tidal cUITents, El Riito (Rl, RIl, RUJ) were more consistently used by the postlarvae lo settle (fig. 1). These A and R sites were used most of the time. Table I shows the catch rate per coUector, which ranged from J to 10 puerulj (aH stages). The mean catch per site ranged from O to 2.52 puerulus/collector/new moon phase. Throughout the year we caught pueruli, postpueruli, and juveniles, the last prevailing in most samples.

In the two years, the general settlement pattem was similar. Three was a conspicuous seasonal cycle where autumn was the dominant season for postlarval settlement. In both years, September and October showed the highest catches,

but from September 1994 to February 1995 settlement continued with a peak in January 1995. This long autumn-winter settlement period was quite different from the same period in 1993-1994. Also, in March 1993 as weU as in May and June 1994, there was a second minor settlement period (fig. 2). This figure shows several discrete settlement peaks (black bars) occurring every two or three months.

10

.9 8 ü i!' (5 o--... Ul 6(J)�

Ol� ~ (f)

~ 4 (f) :::J -s (J) :::J

CL 2

O MAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFM ,993 Months ' 99b

• Puerulus O Postpuerulus+Juveniles

r:ig. 2. Mean eateh rate (pueruli al! stages/collector/monthly new moon phase) of Panulirus inter­ruptus (Randall, 1840) at Bahía Tortugas, Mexieo (] 993-] 995)

953 PUERULUSSETTLEMENT

TABLE 1� Catches, per coHector and at each site, of pueruli (aH stage~) uf Panulirus inter­

ruptus (RandaH, ] 840) at Bahía Tortugas, Mexico (1993-1995)

Months Sites

Al An RI RIl RIlI MAl MAl! BI Bl! BIlI P

March 1993 O 0, 2 3, 4 2, O April 1 O, 1 O, O O O O May O 1, O O, O O O O lUDe 1 O, O O, O O O 1 JuJy O 1 1, O O O, O 1 O August O O 0,0 1, O 1, O O O September O 5 3, O O, O 9, 2 3 3 October O 4 2 2 O 2 O November O j 2 O O, O O O December O O O O O O O January 1994 O I O O 1, O 1 February O 2 O 1 2, 1 O March O O I O O, O O ApriJ O O O O O, O O May O 6 4 1 O 5 lune O O O 1 2 2 5 luly O O O O O, O O August O O 1 O O, O O September 7, 5 1 8 9 October 7 9 4 7 November 10 2 7 5 December 4 6 4 ° lanuary 1995 10 7 10

February 6 O 0, 2 3 March 2 1 1, O 2

Pueruli 13 63 4] 38 34 31 12 3 O O aH stages Number of 18 25 30 20 29 18 16 3 3 3 3 coIlectors Catch rate 0.72 2.52 1.36 1.9 1.17 1.72 075 1.0 O O 0.33

The carapace length (CL) of the sampled specimens varied from 6.5 to 33.5 mm, 7.5 mm being the most freguent size (fig. 3). Throughout the year the mean monthly length (MCL) varied between 7 and 9 mm, however, 'rom November 1994 to March 1995 it became 10 to 17 mm (fig. 4). There seems to be a regular pattem in which the smaller classes are found in the middle of the year, while

the older specimens settle at the end of the year, between October and January.

954 S A GUZMÁN-DEL PRÓü ET AL

70 -,-----------------------,

6.5 9.5 12.5 15.5 18.5 21.5 245 27.5 30.5 33.5

Carapace length (mm)

• Puerulus D Postpuerulus+Juveniles

Fig. 3. Size frequency (cmapace length) 01' pueruli, all stages, 01' Panulirus interruptus (Randall, 1840), caught on artificial seaweed collectors al Bahía Tortugas, Mexico (1993-1995).

30 I Confidence ifll. (95%) ~ MCL

25�

E� -S 20� oC

O> e Q)

-; 15 ü ro ~ ~ 10 O

5

o MAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFM

1993 Months 1995

Fig.4. Mean carapace length (MCL) 01' pueruli, al! stages, 01' Panulirus inlerruplUs (Randal!, J840), caught on artificial seaweecl collectors at Bahía Tortugas, Mexico (J 993-1995).

955 PUERULUSSETTLEMENT�

DISCUSSION�

This first survey suggests that there are two main settlement seasons for pueruli

and juveniles in Bahía Tortugas: the most abundant occurs throughout the autumn

and early winter, followed by a minor second peak during the spring and early

surnmer. In California waters, EngIe (1977) reported that pueruli of P. interruptus settled from lune through September with a peak in August, coinciding with the

maximum water temperature. Serfting & Ford (1975) found similar results, the

settlement occurred from May through September, with a peak in August, again

coinciding with maximum water temperatures. In our case, although the maxi­

mum abundance of settlement occurred in the autumn, from September through

November, it seems that it also is related to maximum sea water temperatures

(20-21°C) which in this region occur during the autumn (CALCOFI, 1963). On

the other hand, the second minor peak that we observed, apparently has not been

reported from California waters.

The sites Arvin n and Riito I, n, III produced the best results with puerulus

settlement. This confirm the suggestions by other authors that collectors are best

placed near fringing reefs and sites that are sheltered from wave and wind action

(Phillips & Booth, 1994).

We assumed that the animaIs collected throughout the experiment, regardless

of their size (6-33 mm CL), all belonged to the same year class. However,

the conspicuos modal peaks in fig. 4 might indicate that several cohorts are

included. Engle (1977) reported that one-years old juveniles of P. interruptus in

California attain a CL of 32 mm. This fits well with our results. In addition, the

various peaks in puerulus settlement (fig. 3) could also be indicative of successive

discrete larval populations arriving from time to time in the coastal benthic

habitat. This could be well explained by that in this part of Baja California the

eggs are spawned and hatched over a rather extended reproductive period from

May through August (Pineda et a1., 1981).

This first survey proved the good performance of the GuSi collector in Baja

California waters. The puerulus catch showed a consistent seasonaI pattern. The

average catch rate of 1.07 puerulus per collector (table I) agrees well with the

results (0.068 to 1.32) for the same species in California reported by Serfting

& Ford (1975) who used three different designs of collectors. AIso, our figures

are close to those given by Gutierrez-Carbonell et al. (1992) who for P. argus found a range of 0.32 to 1.59, using the GuSi collector, too. These results are

aH very similar notwithstanding differences in the Iength of the time of sampling

(20 days, weekly, and moon-monthly, respectively).

The maximum catch per collector obtained in the present experiment (10 pue­

ruli) may appear very low compared with the results of other type of collectors

956 S A GUZMÁN-DEL PRÓO ET AL.

as, for instance the types used by Lewis, Phillips and Whitman, which made catches of up to 48, 135, and 247 pueruli, respectively (Phillips & Booth, 1994).

However, it sbould be pointed out tbat the dimensions of each collector are different and do not necessarily provide the same surface for settlement. On the other hand, since this report only is a first effort made in the Bahía Tortugas area,

it is possible that the area of highest larval density bas Ilot yet been detected. More tests with several designs still need to be conducted, to determine the

most appropriate collector for a permanent and more ambitious program for measuring puerulus recruitment in Baja California. However, these first results with the GuSi type collector are encouraging, especially because tbey are made of cheap material, are easy to be moored, and have a great durability of the

tassels (at least 2 years). The consistency of the seasonal patterns obtained, has given a first picture of the recruitment of the red spiny lobster in this area of the

country.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was funded by Dirección de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación del LP.N. (DEPI-942ü31). The authors wish to thank Dr. Bruce Phillips for critical comments on the manuscript, to Dra. Imelda Martínes for translating tbe

Abstract into French. and Lic. Haydeé Guzmán for drawing the figures. We acknowledge also the support of Ignacio Arce, José Camacho, Jesús Edgardo Murillo, Eulogio Salinas and Moisés Leree from Cooperativa de Producción Pesquera "Bahía Tortugas s.eL." in the field work. We are indebted to the

Instituto Nacional de la Pesca (Centro Regional de Investigación Pesquera de

Bahía Tortugas) for letting us use their facilities.

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& J. KITTAKA (eds.), Spiny lobster management: 119-130. (Fishing News Books, Oxford). BRlONES-FoURZA , P., 1992. Estado actual de los estudios sobre reclutamiento de postlarvas de

la langosta Panulirus argus (LatreiJle) en el Caribe mexicano. In: S. A. GlZ 1ÁN-DEL PRÓO (ed.), Memorias del Taller México-Australia sobre Reclutamiento de Recursos Bentónicos de Baja California: 131-142. (SEPESCA-IPN, La Paz, México).

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ENGLE, 1., 1977. Growth of juvenile spiny lobster Panulirus inlerrupll.ls I'rom a discrete surf grass habitar. In: B. F PHJLLlPS & J. S. C0138 (eds.), Workshop on lobster and rack lobster ecology and physiology: 34-35. (('SIRO, Division of Fisheries and Oceanography Circular No. 7, Melbourne).

957 PUERULUS SETTLEMENT

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u.eceived for publication 26 July 1995.