While egg-bearing (ovigerous) American lobsters are found in estuaries, it is not known if they are present when their eggs hatch. The major goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that a portion of the larvae that serve as new recruits to the Great Bay Estuary lobster population originate from females that are year-around residents. First, a total of nine ovigerous lobsters were fitted with acoustic transmitters and tracked from October through the following spring-to-early summer. We found that all lobsters overwintered in the estuary and were located again within 1 km of their fall positions the following May–June, when their eggs likely hatched. Second, sea sampling surveys carried out in the spring revealed that ovigerous lobsters in the estuary were carrying more developed eggs than their coastal counterparts. Third, through a series of laboratory-based studies, we calculated the putative hatch dates of egg clutches carried by estuarine and coastal lobsters and show that estuarine lobster eggs likely hatch 2–3 weeks earlier than eggs carried by coastal females. Finally, plankton tow surveys in the estuary revealed that stage I larval lobsters (zoeae) were present in the estuary from May to July, which encompasses the predicted hatching period for both estuarine and coastal eggs. Therefore, new recruits to the Great Bay Estuary lobster population likely come from both resident estuarine lobsters and coastal females.
