little contribution from resident spawning stock. 2) There 

 was a tendency during 1978, for stage IV larvae to be collected 

 when winds were onshore. Winds in the Hampton-Seabrook 

 area tend to be from the west and southwest during summer 

 months, but due to thermal differences between air and water, 

 are more likely to be onshore during the day and offshore 

 at night (Normandeau Associates, Inc. 6 ). Tidal currents in the 

 area average 0.05-0.1 m/s; these effects are more pronounced 

 during summer months when wind velocities are somewhat 

 below average. Net drift tended to be predominantly south- 

 ward and was generally 1 .8 to 3.8 km/d (Normandeau Associ- 

 ates, Inc. footnote 6). This suggests that larvae may be derived 

 from a more northern spawning population, are moved by 

 tidal currents into New Hampshire coastal waters, and are 

 then transported onshore by winds. 3) Catch data for adult 

 lobsters (Normandeau Associates, Inc. footnote 3) showed 

 that during 1972 and 1973 ovigerous females never made up 

 more than 1.5% of the monthly catch; Public Service Co. of 

 New Hampshire (unpubl. data) found that ovigerous females 

 never exceeded 2.4% of the monthly catch during 1974-78, 

 even though females made up 60% of the catch. Also, fewer 

 than 5% of the females in the nearby Piscataqua River were 

 found to be ovigerous (Normandeau Associates, Inc. 7 ). 



Ennis (1980) and Squires (1970) found between 2.6-30.4% 

 and 10-35% of females were ovigerous, respectively, in 

 Newfoundland waters. Skud and Perkins (1969) reported that 

 22% of females collected were ovigerous in trawl catches from 

 the continental shelf off New England. Ovigerous females, 

 however, may not be as easily trapped as non-ovigerous 

 females (Templeman and Tibbo 1945). 



The association between large amounts of drift macroalgae 

 and increased catch of larval lobsters requires further investi- 

 gation. For example, virtually all of the stage I larvae collected 

 during 1979 occurred in a single sample which contained a 

 large amount of algae. 



Stage IV larvae from the Hampton-Seabrook area appear to 

 be considerably larger than those from Canadian and southern 

 New England waters. Stage IV larvae in our collections were 

 within the size range of Herrick's (1896) stage V-VIII larvae. 

 However, both Herrick (1896) and Hadley (1906) reared their 

 larvae in the laboratory. Templeman (1948b) noted that larvae 

 collected in the warmer waters of Northumberland Strait were 

 smaller than larvae collected from cooler waters, but did not 

 provide temperature data. Wilder (1953) compared larval and 

 juvenile growth in the cooler Bay of Fundy with that in the 

 warmer Gulf of St. Lawrence, and made similar observations. 



Species associated with lobster larvae in our collections 

 may be categorized as true neuston species or as near-surface 

 species which may be associated with floating macroalgae. 

 Anomalocera opalus and Enchelyopus cimbrius are common 

 neuston species in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Pennell 1967). 

 The majority of species, such as Cancer spp. larvae, the 

 hydrozoans and their associated hyperiid amphipods, may be 

 inhabitants of the near-surface waters for either a particular 

 part of their life cycle or for a particular part of the day, 



"Normandeau Associates, Inc., 1979. Annual summary report for 1976 hydro- 

 graphic studies off Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. Tech. Rep. V11I-1, 1S4 p. 

 Preoperational ecological monitoring studies for Seabrook Station. Prepared for 

 Public Service Co. of New Hampshire. 



Normandeau Associates, Inc., 1979. Newington Generating Station, 316Dem- 

 onstration. Vol. I. 398 p. Prepared for Public Service Co. of New Hampshire. 



but are not adapted for a neuston existence per se. The third 

 assemblage, which lives among the floating algae, includes 

 Idotea balthica (Schultz 1969) and larvae and juveniles of 

 Gasterosteus aculeatus, Cyclopterus lumpus, Liparis spp., and 

 Sygnathus fuscus (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953; Leim and 

 Scott 1966). 



LITERATURE CITED 



BIGELOW, H. B., and W. C. SCHROEDER. 



1953. Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. Bull. 

 53, 577 p. 

 BOESCH, D. F. 



1977. Application of numerical classification in ecological investigations of 

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1980. Size-maturity relationships and related observations in Newfoundland 

 populations of the lobster (Homarus americanus). Can. J. Fish. Aquat. 

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 HADLEY. P. B. 



1906. Regarding the rate of growth of the American lobster, (Homarus 

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 HERRICK, F. H. 



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 LEIM, A. H.. and W. B. SCOTT. 



1966. Fishes of the Atlantic coast of Canada. Fish. Res. Board Can., Bull. 

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LUND, W. A., and L. L. STEWART. 



1970. Abundance and distribution of larval lobsters, Homarus ameri- 

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PENNELL, W. 



1967. Preliminary report on a study of neuston in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

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ROGERS, B. A., J. S. COBB, and N. MARSHALL. 



1968. Size comparisons of inshore and offshore larvae of the lobster, 

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SCARRATT, D. J. 



1964. Abundance and distribution of lobster larvae (Homarus americanus) 

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1968. Distribution of lobster larvae (Homarus americanus) off Pictou, 

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1969. Lobster larvae off Pictou, Nova Scotia, not affected by bleached 

 kraft mill effluent. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 26:1931-1934. 



1973. Abundance, survival, and vertical and diurnal distribution of lobster 

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1969. How to know the marine isopod crustaceans. W. C. Brown Co., 

 Dubuque, Iowa, 359 p. 

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1967. Seasonal occurrence of larval lobsters in coastal waters of central 

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SQUIRES, H. J. 



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TEMPLEMAN, W. 



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Board Can. 2:41-88. 

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56 



