A tagged lobster has walked from the East Coast to the West Coast. And it seems its buddies came with it.
A young lobster was tagged and released near Moeraki, on the East Coast of the South Island, in 2017. Less than two years later, on 2 April 2019, it was recaptured by Regan Smith off Dusky Sound on the West Coast, having walked down the coast and around the bottom of the South Island
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From Moeraki to Dusky Sound travelling along the sea floor is over 600 km. — Google maps
That’s a journey of over 600 km, on the seafloor. The creature averaged about a kilometre a day for two years, and grew a couple of size grades along the way, from about a 3A to a small B.
You might have seen the recent RLIC report or CRA8 newsletter that mentioned this.
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The lobster recaptured off Dusky Sound. — Regan Smith
What’s new is that last month Peter Young recaptured another animal in the same area, with a tag number very close to the first, just 11 places away in sequence. It’s being checked still, but chances are it was tagged in Moeraki around the same time.