INTRODUCTION OF LOBSTERS. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2626, 13 July 1904, Page 63

INTRODUCTION OF LOBSTERS. TO THE EDITOR.

Sis, — I see in this morning's paper that a supposed lobster has again been picked up in the harbour. I say again because such finds have been continuously reported sinpo the^e crustaceans wero introduced some years ago by the Acclimatisation Society. All the supposed specimens which have come under my notice have proved to belong to a totally different species of crustacean — Munida sub-rug osa, — which is very common in these seas, and which in ono of its pbxses is the swimming form known as "v. hale-foed." Lobsters, crayfishes, and their immediate allies pass through a number of larval stages, which are so unlike the adult that they were described by the older naturalists under distinct families and genera. It is, then, very unlikely that the specimen now recorded is a young lobster at all.

it will he romeinbeied that the .specimens introduce 4by the Acclimatisation Society were placed on the mole at the entrance to tho harbour, a locality particularly unsuitable to lobsters, because it is swept by currents bearing great quantities of shifting sand. Ac the Portobe'lo hatchery, which is now just completed, we hope to be nblc to deal satisfactorily with lob~teris, and these crustaceans will probably be tho first introduced species we experiment with.

In this connection I may refer to another experiment which failed. A number of prawr« were introduced from Sydney and liberated in these waters. I pointed ouc at the time that it was a mistake to bring a semi-tropical species to these coM seas. It has been stated more thin once recently th?t these prawns are now abundant in the harbour. Prawns always have been common in the harbour, and they may easily be seen nt low water about Portobcllo and elsewhere on any calm day, but the species is Lcander affinis, and is confined to New Zealand It ne-\ er seems to be caught here in numbers sufficient to- give it a commercial -\f.lue-, Lut I ha^e freoiicnsly seen ir in the fish shops, both of Christchurch and Wellington. — I am, etc.. Dunedin, July 5. Geo. M. Thomson.