Severe physiological stress associated with the annual breeding emigration of Panulirus ornatus in the Torres Strait

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Abstract
Juvenile lobsters Panulirus ornatus in the Torres Strait emigrate once a year from the Torres Strait to the Gulf of Papua, several hundred kilometres to the northeast. They mature and spawn during this emigration. After spawning the lobsters disappear. It has been suggested that the combined stress of reproduction and emigration results in mass mortality. To test this hypothesis, lobsters were collected at several stages of the emigration and their condition defined by the water content and composition of the digestive gland and abdominal muscle. A cage experiment, with 2 feeding regimes, was conducted to examine the likelihood of post-reproductive mortality. Compared to lobsters in the Torres Strait, before emigration takes place, lobsters that had completed the breeding emigration were in very poor condition. There were changes in the size and composition of both the digestive gland and abdominal muscle. Three stages of deterioration were recognised; in the final stage the digestive gland tissue was severely atrophied. The physiological characteristics identified in this study provide a quantitative basis for future work on the mortality rates of lobsters that have completed the emigration.

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