Fecundity of the New Zealand red rock lobster, Jasus edwardsii

Abstract

Samples of berried female Jasus edwardsii (Hutton) were taken from rock lobster pots fished by commercial fishermen from eight areas around New Zealand, and the number of eggs counted using an electronic egg counter. The size of females ranged from 74 to 157 mm carapace length (CL) and fecundity from 37 499 to 407 032 eggs per female. The fecundity‐size relationship was described by a power function of the form fecundity (f) = a CL b. There were no significant differences between most samples, which resulted in a considerable degree of overlap in the fecundity‐size relationship between areas. The maximum fecundity observed in this study is considerably less than the maximum observed in two previous studies of J. edwardsii. Egg loss at Kaikoura between the early and middle stages of the egg‐bearing period was 20%. The fecundity of J. edwardsii is generally less than the fecundity of three other closely related Jasus species (J. lalandii, J. novaehollandiae, and J. frontalis) at similar sizes. © 1987 Crown.