hello my name is Joshua Carloni the lobster biologist with New Hampshire
Fish and Game we put this video together as a guide to help observers better to
determine the egg stages for lobsters they'll encounter why on the field just
to some background information. In the Gulf of Maine lobsters generally extrude
eggs from late summer through the fall a female officer will carry eggs under
abdomen for nine to twelve months and hatching occurs the following year
in early to mid summer months so female extrude eggs in year A, she'll carry
those eggs throughout the winter and as the waters warm in the spring and early
summer those eggs will begin to hatch. In the Gulf of Maine this typically takes
place in June and July. This is highly dependent on temperature and so the
timing of these events will vary depending upon geographic location. when
a female officer first extrudes her eggs they're a greenish color sometimes
fishermen refer to them as black Eggers. If you look closely at these eggs they
lack eye spots and are uniform in color. As you can see there's some variability but
the major characteristics you want to look for in the field are a green to
dark green color that's very uniform. The next stage will
be asked ID in the field is ID eggs. Some states including New Hampshire split
eyed eggs into three different developmental stages this helps to
determine the time until they hatch but it also adds some complexity to field ID.
You won't be asked to do this in the field but I think it will be very useful
for you to see the three stages so you have a better idea of the maturity of
the eggs that you're going to be asked to ID. Early developmental stage eyed eggs
look similar to newly extruded eggs as they're a similar color with a couple
important differences. Early eyed eggs take on a two-tone color and if you look
closely you can see little black specks which are actually eyes. A grayish green
appearance may be noticeable as you look at these eggs from a distance. Generally
you'll see these eggs and the fall of the year before they're going to hatch
so in general you'll see these eggs in September, October and possibly even
November in December. The mid developmental stage eyed eggs take on
almost a purple appearance. Some may say dark green grayish but
often times to me they appear purple. These eggs are also definable by their
large eye spots which are turquoise in color. Generally you'll see these eggs
late in the season the year before they're going to hatch or early in the
season in the year in which they're going to hatch. The late developmental
stage eyed eggs would be the last of the iodine category these eggs take on a
brownish reddish color and have large turquoise eyes. You will only see these
eggs in the year in which they're going to hatch. Once eggs get to this stage it
won't be long before hatching begins. You may also see a slight blue tinge to some
of the eggs which is indicative that they will hatch in the very near future
as I said before for your purposes they'll just need to determine if the
eggs have eyes. So if the eggs you're observing are one of the three stages of
eyed eggs that I just described you'll just note them in the general eyed egg
category. Just as a little background on the hatching and release stage but
you'll be asked to ID in the field. The eggs will actually hatch while still
attached to the female and are considered pre larvae at this stage
they'll get into too much detail the female will then stand erect on the tip
of her walking legs raise her abdomen high off the substrate and rapidly
flutter up pleopods to encourage egg hatch both to the pre larvae and to
release larvae into the water column. Since eggs will all develop at a
different rate the eggs don't all hatch at the same time and thus release of the
larvae can take place over several days or even longer depending upon
temperature. This stage can be quite variable in appearance but as you can
see from the images there are a few important characteristics that you'll be
looking for in the field. You'll notice that the eggs in pre larvae attach to
the abdomen take on a blue color. You may see this blue tinge and some of the
really late stage eyed eggs as well but the difference here is that you want to
look for evidence that the female has actually released hatched eggs as larvae.
This will be evident by a furry substance which is a combination of egg
casings and cementum left over from larvae that have already been released.
Again there's some overlap between these stages
and samplers are just asked to do the best they can. In New Hampshire we will
code eggers is hatching if we see any evidence of release of larvae. The final
stage will be asked ID is a spent egger stage this is identifiable by what is
often described as a furry abdomen. This is a cementum which remains attached to
the CT after the eggs have hatched and been released. Don't be fooled into
thinking that every egger is a spent egger. It helps to look at a spent egger
next to a female that hasn't recently carried eggs. Also when in doubt try to
see if you can pull any of the cementing material off of the CT if so you can
assume it is a spent egger. These are the egg stages you'll be asked to ID in the
field if you have any further questions whatsoever feel free to contact me by
phone or email. Good luck and have fun out on the water.