Shallow, hard‐bottom habitat constitutes approximately 30% of the coastal waters of south Florida, United States, yet it is a chronically understudied feature of the marine seascape in this region. In this study, we characterised the general biogeographic and structural features of shallow benthic hard‐bottom communities in the Florida Keys, and related those to the abundance of juvenile Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argu...

We histologically determined lipofuscin content in eyestalk neural tissue to estimate the age and growth of Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) in Florida, United States. Neurolipofuscin was measured from size‐stratified samples of 145 lobsters from the Florida Keys and 119 lobsters from the Dry Tortugas, the two main fishing areas in Florida. Modal analysis of the neurolipofuscin concentration frequency histograms sugge...

For many species of lobsters, size at sexual maturity varies across spatially separated populations. This is so for two populations of Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus , in southern Florida, where females from open‐fishing areas around the Dry Tortugas mature at a larger size than females from open‐fishing areas in the Florida Keys. Variations in onset of maturity between populations of lobsters have been attributed to...

We used acoustic telemetry to study the movements of spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) during the spring and summer of 2003 and 2004 in Hawk Channel in the Western Sambo Ecological Reserve near Key West, Florida, United States. Overall, lobsters generally showed greatest movement after sunset and before sunrise with relatively less movement between midnight and 0200 h, however, there was great variability in movement patterns be...

In Florida, United States, the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, supports an important commercial fishery and also perhaps the most intensive recreational fishery of any lobster species, with sales of recreational lobster fishing permits exceeding 100 000 annually. For the past decade, we have used mail surveys of recreational lobster license holders to estimate spatially explicit landings and fishing effort when recre...