Ecology Summary - Panulirus argus

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Ecology of Panulirus argus

Main Ref.	Holthuis, L.B., 1991
Remarks	Occurs at depths down to 90 m, perhaps even deeper; usually inhabits shallow waters and found among rocks, on reefs, eelgrass beds or in any habitat that provides protection. The species is gregarious and migratory. Females move to deeper water for spawning and there are mass migrations in the autumn when the animals, in single files up to 50 individuals, move in a certain direction in daytime, each animal having body contact with the next through the antennae; In the northern part of its range, larvae are found mainly from June to December (Ref. 4).

Main Ref.

Holthuis, L.B., 1991

Remarks

Occurs at depths down to 90 m, perhaps even deeper; usually inhabits shallow waters and found among rocks, on reefs, eelgrass beds or in any habitat that provides protection. The species is gregarious and migratory. Females move to deeper water for spawning and there are mass migrations in the autumn when the animals, in single files up to 50 individuals, move in a certain direction in daytime, each animal having body contact with the next through the antennae; In the northern part of its range, larvae are found mainly from June to December (Ref. 4).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Panulirus argus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Benthic: mobile; Soft Bottom: mud; Hard Bottom: rocky; rubble;
Substrate Ref.	Holthuis, L.B., 1991
Special habitats	Beds: sea grass; Coral Reefs;
Special habitats Ref.	Holthuis, L.B., 1991

Associations

Ref.	Holthuis, L.B., 1991
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Briones-Fourzán, P., V.C.F. de Lara, E. Lozano-Álvarez and J. Estrada-Olivo, 2003
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Briones-Fourzán, P., V.C.F. de Lara, E. Lozano-Álvarez and J. Estrada-Olivo, 2003

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	3.39	0.28			Troph of juv./adults.
From individual food items	3.30	0.30			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Briones-Fourzán, P., V.C.F. de Lara, E. Lozano-Álvarez and J. Estrada-Olivo, 2003

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