Estrella and Morrissey: Seasonal movement of Homarus americanus 
469 
were liberated at three release stations (Table 1) 
between 21 July 1969 and 25 June 1971. By 22 De- 
cember 1972, 332 or 26.8% of the tags were returned 
(Fig. 2). Mean distance from point of release to point 
of recapture was 22.6 km (median=140.4 km), mean 
time at large 112.5 days (median = 448.5 d). 
One hundred thirty (39.2%) of the recaptured lob- 
sters moved less than 10 km from their points of re- 
lease (Table 2). One hundred fifty-one (45.5%) were 
recaptured within 10 to 40 km, and 51 (15.4%) were 
recaptured at 40 km or more from point of release. 
Four lobsters moved farther than 100 km, one of the 
four as far as 281 km. 
The distances traveled by lobsters grouped in 
classes based on size, sex, and the presence or ab- 
sence of ripe and immature external eggs at tagging 
are shown in Table 3A. Legal-size females without 
eggs moved the shortest distance of all groups. Ripe 
ovigerous lobster moved farthest (average 30.3 km), 
followed by females with immature eggs (average 
23.8 km). Analysis of variance of log-transformed 
data indicated there were significant differences 
among groups (P<0.01). Several multiple-range test 
procedures, Tukey-HSD test, Student-Newman- 
Keuls (SNK), and Duncan, were run on log-trans- 
formed data. A common result among the tests was 
Table 1 
Tagged lobsters liberated and recaptured from three release stations at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 
Release 
station 
Number 
tagged 
Carapace length (mm) 
Tags returned 
Mean 
distance 
traveled 
(km) 
Movement 
Mean 
time at 
large 
(days) 
Velocity 
(km/day) 
Number 
Percent 
recovery 
Mean 
Range 
SD 
1 
Provincetown 
Male 
190 
84 
48-198 
25.2 
54 
28.4 
22.4 
220.4 
0.49 
Female 
683 
113 
49-189 
21.2 
200 
29.3 
21.4 
83.6 
0.65 
2 
Truro 
Male 
39 
75 
67-80 
3.8 
8 
20.5 
25.3 
228.9 
0.37 
Female 
105 
106 
67-149 
21.0 
21 
20.0 
21.7 
104.7 
1.50 
3 
Eastham 
Male 
75 
76 
69-90 
3.8 
14 
18.7 
22.6 
198.1 
0.49 
Female 
145 
96 
66-146 
21.6 
35 
24.1 
29.6 
55.1 
1.18 
Total or weighted mean 1237 
102 
48-198 
24.9 
332 
26.8 
22.6 
112.5 
0.72 
Table 2 
Distance traveled by lobsters liberated from three release stations at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 
Distance 
traveled 
(km) 
Provincetown 
Truro 
Eastham 
Total 
Number 
of tags 
returned 
Percent 
of 
total 
Number 
of tags 
returned 
Percent 
of 
total 
Number 
of tags 
returned 
Percent 
of 
total 
Number 
of tags 
returned 
Percent 
of 
total 
Less than 10 
100 
39.4 
2 
6.9 
28 
57.1 
130 
39.2 
10-19 
49 
19.3 
15 
51.7 
1 
2.0 
65 
19.6 
20-29 
26 
10.2 
2 
6.9 
2 
4.1 
30 
9.0 
30-39 
46 
18.1 
8 
27.7 
2 
4.1 
56 
16.9 
40-49 
20 
7.8 
1 
3.4 
5 
10.3 
26 
7.8 
50 or more 
13 
5.2 
1 
3.4 
11 
22.4 
25 
7.5 
Total 
254 
100.0 
29 
100.0 
49 
100.0 
332 
100.0 
