Temperature-dependent stage durations of Irish Sea Nephrops larvae

Abstract

The relationships between temperature and stage duration of the three zoea stages of Irish Sea Nephrops norvegicus were investigated by culturing individual larvae at five different temperatures. The relationships are required for estimating daily larval production from survey data on abundance. The survival of cultured larvae was relatively high. Estimates of the temperature–stage duration relationships from data of individual larvae were different from a previous Irish Sea study. However, using the average duration at each temperature gave relationships that were not significantly different from previous studies in the Irish Sea and Clyde. No larvae were successfully reared to stage IV (post-zoea) at lower temperatures, so it was impossible to assess the relationship between stage III larval duration and temperature.