Stone Crab Menippe spp. Populations on Louisiana’s Nearshore Oil and Gas Platforms: Higher Density and Size at Maturity on a Sand Shoal

AbstractOil and gas platforms are common in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Platforms provide substrate for sessile organisms such as barnacles and oysters that enhance habitat for stone crabs Menippe spp. and other fouling-associated organisms. In recent years, Louisiana’s small nearshore platforms (<15 m) have been subjected to a high rate of removal, but little is known about their relative value as artificial reefs. During 2014, we compared stone crab populations at platforms on and off Ship Shoal in order to evaluate habitat conditions in the two areas. We hypothesized that platforms on the shoal would provide higher quality habitat than those in the surrounding area because the shoal supports higher diversity and abundances of benthic organisms. Stone crab populations were characterized by means of visual counts and by removing subsamples for species identification, sexing, and carapace measurements. Of the 378 stone crabs collected, 368 were Gulf stone crabs M. adina and 10 were Cuban stone crabs M. n...