Abstract

The puerulus (postlarval) stage of spiny lobsters represents a critical and pivotal life-history link between the long-lived oceanic phyllosoma and the benthic dwelling adult-phase juvenile. Although great strides continue to within this realm of lobster research, there remain major gaps with respect to quantifying potential “connectivity” among populations as well as the ecological requirements and attributes for species that reside in remote habitats or are of non-commercial fishery interest. Through cooperative monitoring programs, The Puerulus Identification Project (PIP) seeks to gather, collate and disseminate current and additional data on the ecological requirements, natural settlement zones and early habitat shifts of pueruli throughout the Caribbean where lobster remains actively and intensely fished. Although not limited to any one species, the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, is the focal animal for this survey based on its immense economic and social significance throughout its range. Monitoring and collating electronically-linked data on the magnitude of puerulus recruitment to coastal areas around the Caribbean region could help elucidate more detailed patterns of postlarval influx, provide specimens for research, and help to model correlations of settlement to habitat and predictive patterns of recruitment leading to potential forecasting of good or bad years of fishery catch.

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