In a culture situation, uncertainty of larval hatch date and variability in larval quality is undesirable and may cause expensive disruptions to production schedules and human resourcing. As a management tool, accurate, long-range prediction of hatch date and production of high quality larvae are advantageous as they allow for the determination of lead times and output consistency. Culture preparation time is important for spiny lobsters whose larval culture requires the preparation of expensive and time consuming live feeds (Kittaka, 2000). Time and effort is wasted if larval production is either stopped or delayed due to inconsistencies in larval quality or the inaccurate prediction of hatch date. Under these circumstances, the ability to predict the date of hatch would add to culture success and reduce associated costs.