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Want to know what we’ve learnt from our tagging studies on southern rock lobster?
83% are caught within 1km of their release site, and 94% stay within 5kms.
The few that do move tend to head in a south to south westerly direction, with some travelling more than 50kms! The map to the right shows the routes taken by these particularly active crustaceans.
One special case was a female rock lobster (tag #7870). She was released near Torquay and walked a crazy 168km south west, past Cape Otway and out to the shelf.
She was recaptured after 2003 days out, in which time she’d travelled an average of 84m per day and grew 12.1mm (2.2mm per year).
While we don’t really know why some lobsters move from inshore to offshore, our theory is that it’s to maximise dispersal of larvae.
Pretty cool huh?!

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