QUANTITATIVE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN POSTLARVAL PRODUCTION AND BENTHIC RECRUITMENT IN LOBSTERS, HOMARUS-AMERICANUS

Relationships between lobster postlarval supply and benthic recruitmen t were evaluated within and between oceanographically distinct segment s of the range of the American lobster. Postlarvae (PL) were sampled b y neuston nets in western Rhode Island Sound and the western Gulf of M aine, USA, from June to September 1989-95. Benthic lobsters were sampl ed in sublittoral cobble habitat by using a diver-operated airlift at the end of the settlement season. Average annual recruitment densities of young-of-year (YOY) lobsters ranged from 0.3 to 1.7 m(-2). YOY rec ruitment was positively correlated between areas. Integrated seasonal abundance of postlarvae was often much greater in Rhode Island than Ma ine, but production estimates (PL 1000 m(-2) season(-1)), calculated f rom moult cycle stages and temperature-dependent growth rates, differe d by a factor of <0.5. PL production was positively correlated between areas and explained greater than or equal to 81% of the annual variat ion in recruitment in each area and 90% for the two areas combined. In Maine, among-site differences in YOY recruitment persisted for a year after settlement and then began to lessen, at least in part because l arger individuals moved into areas of initially lower recruitment.