Clumps of highly-branched red algae Laurencia spp. serve as important settling habitat for postlarval spiny lobsters Panulvus argus and as residence for early benthic-stage juveniles. G ~v e n choice between the 2 most abundant macrophytes in Florida Bay, Laurenna spp. and the seagrass Thalassia testudinum, postlarval and juvenile lobsters chose Laurencia spp. Postlarvae apparently use intricate algal architecture as a cue for settlement, whereas juveniles use both architecture and food abundance in selecting habitat. In tethering experiments, predation on juve~ule lobsters was very high on open sand, much reduced In algal clumps and seagrass, and lowest in dense algal meadows. Predation rates were s~milar day and night both on open sand and In vegetabon. Most lobsters vacated algal clumps located within continuous algal meadows overnight, at a rate significahtly higher than that from isolated algal clumps. We suggest that algal clump d ~s t n b u b o n , postlarval settling behavior, and juvenile interpatch movement and mortality contribute to the highly dispersed distnbution and locally sparse abundances of early benthic juveniles.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Herrnkind et al. (1986) studied this question.