THE STRUCTURE AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY IN THE SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OFNEPHROPS-NORVEGICUS BURROWS

The structure of burrows of the Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus was examined through resin casting. 17% of burrow casts in Loch Sween, Sc otland, showed evidence of adult-juvenile complexes, while no independ ent juvenile burrows were noted. 34% of N. norvegicus burrows showed e vidence of interactions with other species, including the echiuran wor m Maxmuelleria lankesteri, the goby Lesueurigobius friesii and the tha lassinidean Jaxea nocturna. The spatial distribution of N. norvegicus burrows was examined by seabed mapping while SCUBA diving. The burrows appeared to become aggregated during late summer, with the aggregatio ns breaking up into a random distribution over winter. A hypothesis in volving the recruitment to the seabed and adult-juvenile burrow comple xes is suggested as a possible cause of this change in distribution pa ttern.