Abstract

The recreational park of Xel Há has been demonstrated as a beneficial marine reserve for the population of the overfished queen conch. While several long-term movement studies of conches have been conducted, only one drew conclusions on daily displacements and habitat use. The aim of the present study was to determine the home-range used by Lobatus gigas, in function of conch weight, in order to define size of reserves and mariculture enclosures. To reach this goal, 300 individuals were marked, weighed and measured. During one hour their position was recorded every ten minutes, so as to then measure distances and angles of the convex polygon formed to determine the conch speed and area. A total of 221 individuals were followed with average speed of 1.75 ± 2.25 m/h and average area of 0.44 ± 2.25 m². Conch weight did not influence area and speed.

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