An evaluation of lipid‐ and morphometric‐based indices of nutritional condition for early benthic stage spiny lobsters,Panulirus argus

Assessing the nutritional condition of field‐caught animals has obvious ecological utility, but few indices of condition have been developed for spiny lobsters. We evaluated two potential indices of nutritional condition for the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, using early benthic stage lobsters maintained in the laboratory on two food treatments (100% and 25% of maximum daily consumption) for four months. Every two weeks, we sampled lobsters to ascertain their condition using both a weight/carapace length ratio and triacylglycerol/bodyweight ratio. Triacylglycerol (TAG) content in the hepatopancreas, abdominal, and periopod tissue was determined using thin‐layer chromatography‐flame ionization detection. There was a significant difference in both carapace length and weight of lobsters in the two experimental treatments through time, confirming that our feeding treatments created a detectable difference in growth. We also found a corresponding significant difference between treatments for the weight/carapace length ratio, but the TAG/bodyweight ratio did not differ between treatments, and the variance among individuals was high.