European Spiny Lobster (Palinurus elephas) — Habitat, Photos

Q: Where can you find European Spiny Lobster?

European Spiny Lobster can be found in: Atlantic Ocean East, Morocco North, Morocco West, Montenegro, Ireland, Azores, Spain West, Spain East, Croatia, Slovenia, Malta, France North West, France South, United Kingdom, Mediterranean Sea, Tunisia, Monaco, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mauritania, Atlantic Ocean, Algeria, Portugal, Albania, Italy, Greece, France, Morocco.

Palinurus elephas is a spiny lobster, which is commonly caught in the Mediterranean Sea.

Other names: Crayfish or Cray (in Ireland), Common Spiny Lobster, Mediterranean Lobster and Red Lobster.

Description

P. elephas may reach up to 60 cm (24 in) long, although rarely longer than 40 cm (16 in), and usually 25–30 centimetres or 10–12 inches. Few achieve their maximum weight of several kilograms. The adults are reddish-brown with yellow spots. The carapace is slightly compressed and lacks lateral ridges. It is covered with forward pointing spines, with the supraorbital spines prominent. The antennae are very heavy and spiny. Their flagellum is tapering and is even longer than the body. The first walking leg (pereopod) is provided with subchela (the distal end of a limb developed as a prehensile structure). The fourth segment (merus) of this leg has a characteristic row of spines.

Distribution and habitat

Palinurus elephas is a common species of spiny lobster, found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from southern Norway to Morocco and the Azores, and in the Mediterranean Sea, except its eastern extremes. It lives on rocky exposed coasts below the intertidal zone, mainly at depths of 20 to 70 metres (66 to 230 ft).

Reproduction

The breeding season is in September and October, with the female brooding the reddish eggs. These eggs hatch about six months later in the spring as flattened, leaf-shaped, planktonic larvae (phyllosoma larvae).

Diet

It is nocturnal and feeds on small worms, crabs or dead animals, hiding in rock crevices or caves during the day.

Uses

It is a much sought-after delicacy and is widely caught for food around the Mediterranean Sea, mostly with lobster pots, and is also caught less intensively off the Atlantic Coasts of Ireland, Portugal, France and England. There are also small fisheries for this species on the west coast of Scotland, employing tangle nets or lobster pots.