Fisheries dataset on moulting patterns and shell quality of American lobsters H. americanus in Atlantic Canada

This survey collated data on lobster moult indicators and on life-history traits (sex, size) during a twelve-year monitoring program (2004 – 2015) in six lobster fishing areas in Atlantic Canada. A standardized sampling protocol was followed to collect data from a total of 141,659 lobsters over 1,195 sampling events using commercial lobster fishing traps. Data on pleopod stages, hemolymph protein levels (˚Brix values) and shell hardness can be used for moult stage determination. Evaluation of sex ratio dynamics is also possible but existing biases in sampling males and females need to be noted. This dataset is valuable in terms of inferring spatio-temporal trends in the life history of lobsters, as well as in the analysis of their moult cycle, and hence more generally for fisheries science and marine ecology.本调研依托加拿大大西洋海域6个龙虾捕捞区2004—2015年为期12年的监测项目，整理收集了龙虾蜕壳指标及生命史特征（性别、体型）相关数据。本次研究遵循标准化采样方案，借助商业龙虾捕捞笼开展共计1195次采样作业，累计采集141659只龙虾的相关数据。腹肢（pleopod）发育阶段、血淋巴（hemolymph）蛋白水平（˚Brix值）以及壳硬度等数据，可用于判定龙虾蜕壳阶段。该数据集亦可用于分析性比动态，但需注意采样过程中针对雌雄个体存在的固有采样偏差。本数据集对于推断龙虾生命史的时空分布趋势、解析其蜕壳周期具有重要研究价值，可广泛应用于渔业科学与海洋生态学相关研究。