European lobsters are large, mobile crustaceans of ecological and commercial significance.
Until recently, the lack of a reliable technique for long-term, in situ monitoring of activity has hindered study of seasonal variation in activity and its determinants. Electromagnetic telemetry has been used to measure seasonal changes in locomotor activity and body movements of lobsters on an artificial reef in Poole Bay, southern England. Both measures of activity showed marked seasonal variation, related primarily to water temperature, with greatest activity in late summer and minimum values in winter. Subsidiary effects of water movement and seabed illumination were also indicated. Throughout the spring and summer, excursions outside shelter were almost exclusively nocturnal, with movement peaking in the early part of the night.