Studies on Southern Sustralian abalone (genusHaliotis)

The aggregative behaviour of the abaloneHaliotis laevigata Donovan was examined at two localities in South Australia from 1981 to 1984. Sexually mature individuals display aggregative behaviour just before and during the spawning season, but tend to be randomly distributed at other times of the year. Sexually immature individuals show no such behaviour and are regularly to randomly dispersed. The tendency to aggregate increases with increasing age on attainment of sexual maturity. Experimental manipulations of adults only temporarily interrupts the dispersion pattern at a given time. The implications of the behaviour in managing exploited stocks are discussed.