<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Lobster migration train (from The Trials of Life) </Td> </Tr> <P> Copepods are tiny crustaceans which usually reproduce either by broadcast spawning or by sac spawning . Broadcasting copepods scatter their eggs into the water, but sac spawners lay their eggs into an ovigerous sac . Sac spawners spawn few but relatively large eggs that develop slowly . By contrast, broadcast spawners spawn numerous small eggs that develop rapidly . However, the shorter hatch times that result from broadcasting are not short enough to compensate for the higher mortality compared to sac spawners . To produce a given number of hatched eggs, broadcasters must spawn more eggs than sac spawners . </P> <P> After mating, the fertilized eggs of the California spiny lobster are carried on the female's pleopods until they hatch, with between 120,000 and 680,000 carried by a single female . The eggs begin coral red, but darken as they develop to a deep maroon . When she is carrying the eggs, the female is said to be "berried". The eggs are ready to hatch after 10 weeks, and spawning takes place from May to August . The larvae that hatch (called phyllosoma larvae) do not resemble the adults . Instead, they are flat, transparent animals around 14 mm (0.55 in) long, but as thin as a sheet of paper . The larvae feed on plankton, and grow through ten molts into ten further larval stages, the last of which is around 30--32 mm (1.2--1.3 in) long . The full series of larval molts takes around 7 months, and when the last stage molts, it metamorphoses into the puerulus state, which is a juvenile form of the adult, though still transparent . The puerulus larvae settle to the sea floor when the water is near its maximum temperature, which in Baja California is in the fall . </P> <P> Egg - bearing female lobsters migrate inshore from deeper waters to hatch their eggs, though they do not have specific spawning grounds . These lobster migrations can occur in close single - file formation "lobster trains". </P>

How many eggs the fish produces each time