SALT-MARSH PEAT REEFS AS PROTECTION FOR POSTLARVAL LOBSTERS HOMARUS-AMERICANUS FROM FISH AND CRAB PREDATORS - COMPARISONS WITH OTHER SUBSTRATES

This evaluation of habitat quality for early juvenile lobsters Homarus americanus was based on 2 measures: time to settle and degree of surv ival. Predation upon settling postlarval lobsters by fish (cunners Tau togolabrus adspersus) and crabs (green crabs Carcinus maenas) was comp ared in 3 different substrates (cobble, peat and sand). Cobble provide d lobsters with significantly more protection from fish than either pe at or sand, and peat provided significantly more protection than sand. Cobble also provided lobsters with significantly more protection from crabs than peat or sand. However, rates of predation between peat and sand were not consistent with crabs as the predator. The postlarvae q uickly settled into cobble and peat, but delayed settling into sand, s uggesting that cobble and peat were preferred habitats, which is gener ally consistent with the predation levels observed.