reanalyzed using the above equation. The size 

 maturity relationships thus derived are a more 

 accurate reflection of the proportions of non- 

 ovigerous females whose gonads are developing for 

 extrusion during the upcoming spawning season (i.e., 

 physiologically mature). 



Results 



The smallest female lobsters with cement glands in 

 stage 2 (or higher), indicating that egg extrusion 

 would occur during the current spawning period, 

 were 73 mm CL at Arnold's Cove and 7 1 mm at Com- 

 fort Cove (Tables 1, 2). All smaller animals had stage 

 or 1 cement glands, indicating that egg extrusion 

 would not occur. The largest female lobsters with 

 cement glands in stage or 1 were 96 mm CL at 

 Arnold's Cove and 88 mm at Comfort Cove. All larger 

 animals had stage 2 (or higher) cement glands. 



Functional and physiological size-maturity re- 

 lationships were derived for each area and plotted 

 together (Figs. 2, 3). Sizes at 50% functionally mature 

 female lobsters from the relationships were 81 mm 

 CL at Arnold's Cove and 80 mm at Comfort Cove. 

 These compare with sizes at 50% physiologically 



mature female lobsters of 74 mm and 76 mm for 

 Arnold's Cove and Comfort Cove, respectively. 



Observations taken from the data indicate that at 

 Arnold's Cove the shift in physiological maturity 

 from none to all occurred over a 9 mm CL size range 

 (71-80 mm) compared with a 25 mm size range (72- 

 97 mm) for functional maturity. The equivalent size 

 ranges for Comfort Cove lobsters were 22 mm CL 

 (64-86 mm) for physiological maturity and 23 mm 

 (70-93 mm) for functional maturity. Examination of 

 the fitted curves shows considerable disparity be- 

 tween proportions of physiologically mature and 

 functionally mature lobsters at given sizes over much 

 of the size range in each area. In order to quantify this 

 disparity, points on the curves were treated as num- 

 bers (out of 100) rather than percentages and the dif- 

 ference determined between the two curves at any 

 given size. The greatest disparities were for 73 mm 

 CL lobsters at Arnold's Cove (Fig. 2) and for 70 mm 

 lobsters at Comfort Cove (Fig. 3) where this com- 

 parison of the curves indicates that 60% and 41%, 

 respectively, of the physiologically mature animals 

 fail to extrude eggs. This percentage decreases with 

 increasing size in each area. To derive an estimate of 

 this percentage for the population as a whole, the 



Table 1 . - Cement gland stages for female lobsters 

 caught at Arnold's Cove, Newfoundland, 24 June - 

 17 July 1981 and 14-18 June 1982. 



TABLE 2. — Cement gland stages for female lobsters 

 caught at Comfort Cove, Newfoundland, 1-7 July 

 1982. 



246 



