that maturity in our area begins between 40-50 nun CL and that all females 

 are mature at lengths > 90 mm CL. This size at first maturity is 

 substantially smaller than that reported for the South Shore of Long Island 

 (81 mm CL; Briggs and Mushacke 1979) and for northern waters (60-70 mm CL; 

 Ennis 1980). In addition, the presence of extruded eggs on female lobsters 

 is obvious evidence of maturity. The range of CL's.for berried females 

 in our study (66-103 mm) and the modal size (77 mm CL) confirm the smaller 

 size of mature females in our area. 



Egg-bearing Females 



The percentage of berried females in 1983 (4.7%) was higher than that 

 reported in any year for wire pots 1978-82 (range 3.1-4.2%). The Twotree 

 catch had the highest proportion of berried females (7.8%) when compared to 

 IN (3.1%) or JC (2,1%). The percentage of berried females was variable 

 over months corresponding to the reproductive cycle; in May 3.6% of the 

 females were berried and in July the percentage decreased to 0.6%, 

 indicating the completion of the biennial spawning cycle. Post-spawning 

 females molted, mated, and as summer progressed, females that mated the 

 previous year began to extrude eggs and the percentage of berried females 

 increased to 5.7% in August. By October 19.4% of the females were berried. 

 The size distribution of berried females is presented in Figure 7. The mean 



30 - 



20 - 



10 - 



^ 



-■ — 



72 



^71 ui. Y/. 



7? 



^ 





YA^ 



sn m 



60 63 66 69 72 75 78 81 84 87 90 93 96 99 102 105 108 

 CARAPACE LENGTH 



Figure 7. Size distribution for berried female lobsters in 1983. 



12 



