Spiny Lobsters

All 4 species of spiny lobsters on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 65 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• Unlike the lobster it has no large claws: it defends itself with long spiny antennae.

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• Its phyllosoma larval stage can last several months adrift in the ocean before it settles.

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• The eggs are carried by the female, attached under her abdomen.

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• Its life cycle runs through six phases across three different habitats, from the open ocean to the reef.

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• It communicates by rasping a spine on its antennae against plates beneath its eyes to produce a creaking sound.

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• It can lay up to 2,000,000 eggs in a single clutch.

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• The fishery has been managed by the islanders themselves for more than a century, with closed seasons, minimum sizes and the compulsory return of egg-bearing females.

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• It is endemic to a tiny archipelago in the middle of the Pacific, which makes it extremely vulnerable to any failure of management.

Ecosystems