Spiny lobster

Spiny Lobster

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Spiny lobster

Spiny lobsters, also known as langouste or rock lobsters are a family (Palinuridae) of about 45 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
of achelate

Achelata

The Achelata is an infra-order of the Reptantia Decapoda. It contains the spiny lobsters , the slipper lobsters and the furry lobsters . The name "Achelata" derives from the fact that all the members of this group lack the claws that are found on almost all other decapods ....
crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans are a large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles....
s, in the Decapoda

Decapoda

The decapods or Decapoda are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp....
Reptantia

Reptantia

The Reptantia is a group of Decapoda crustaceans, including lobsters, crabs and many other well-known creatures. In older classifications, Reptantia is a Suborder alongside Natantia, with Reptantia containing the walking forms, and Natantia the swimming forms ....
. Spiny lobsters are also, especially in Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, sometimes called crayfish, sea crayfish or crawfish, terms which elsewhere are reserved for freshwater crayfish

Crayfish

Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads are fresh water crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related. They breathe through feather-like gills and are found in bodies of water that do not freeze to the bottom; they are also mostly found in brooks and streams where there is fresh water running, and which have shelter ag...
. Like true lobster

Lobster

Clawed lobsters compose a family of large marine crustaceans. Lobsters are economically important as seafood, forming the basis of a global industry that nets United States dollar1.8 billion in trade annually....
s, spiny lobsters are edible and are an economically significant food source; they are the biggest food export of the Bahamas .

The largest spiny lobster on record was over 1 m

Metre

The metre or meter is a Unit of measurement of length. It is the SI base unit of length in the metric system and in the International System of Units , used around the world for general and scientific purposes....
(3 ft) long and weighed over 11.8 kg

Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogrammeThe spelling kilogram is used by the International Committee for Weights and Measures and the U.S....
(26 lb

Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a Units of measurement of massused in the Imperial unit, United States customary units and other systems of measurement....
).

furry lobster

Furry lobster

Furry lobsters are small decapoda crustaceans, closely related to the slipper lobsters and spiny lobsters. The antenna are not as enlarged as in spiny and slipper lobsters, and the body is covered in short seta, hence the name furry lobster....
s (e.g. Palinurellus) are sometimes separated into a family of their own, the Synaxidae, but are usually considered members of the Palinuridae.

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Relatives

The furry lobster

Furry lobster

Slipper lobster

Slipper lobsters are a family of Achelata Decapoda crustaceans found in all warm oceans and seas. Despite their name, they are not lobsters, but are more closely related to spiny lobsters and furry lobsters....
s (Scyllaridae) are their next closest relatives, and these two or three families make up the Achelata

Achelata

Palinurus

Palinurus, in Roman mythology, is the helmsman of a ship of the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose descendants would one day found the city of Rome. As the price for the safe passage of Aeneas and his people after fleeing from Troy to Italy to escape the city's devastation by the Greeks during their victory in the Trojan War, Venus, the mother of Aene...
was also a helmsman in Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works?the Bucolics , the Georgics and the Aeneid?although several Appendix Vergiliana are also attributed to him....
's Æneid.)

Although they superficially resemble true lobsters

Lobster

Carapace

A carapace is a Dorsum section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids as well as vertebrates such as chelonians, order Testudines, turtles and tortoises....
and exoskeleton

Exoskeleton

An exoskeleton is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal endoskeleton of, for example, a human skeleton....
, the two groups are not closely related. Spiny lobsters can be easily distinguished from true lobsters by their very long, thick, spiny antennae

Antenna (biology)

Antennae are paired appendages connected to the front-most morphogenesis of arthropods. In crustaceans, they are biramous and present on the first two segments of the head, with the smaller pair known as antennules....
, and by the lack of claw

Claw

A claw is a curved, pointed appendage, found at the end of a toe or finger in most mammals, birds, and some reptiles. Somewhat similar fine hooked structures are found in arthropods such as beetles and spiders, at the end of the leg or Arthropod leg for gripping a surface as the creature walks....
s (chelae) on the first four pairs of walking legs, although the females of most species have a small claw on the fifth pair . True lobsters have much smaller antennae and claws on the first three pairs of legs

Arthropod leg

The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: coxa , trochanter , femur, tibia, tarsus , ischium, metatarsus, carpus, dactylus , patella....
, with the first being particularly enlarged.

Fossil record

The fossil record of spiny lobsters has been extended by the discovery in 1995 of a 110 million year-old fossil near El Espiñal in Chiapas

Chiapas

Chiapas is the southernmost States of Mexico of Mexico, located towards the southeast of the country. Chiapas is bordered by the states of Tabasco to the north, Veracruz to the northwest, and Oaxaca to the west....
, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
. Workers from the National University of Mexico

National Autonomous University of Mexico

The National Autonomous University of Mexico is a public university based primarily in Mexico City and generally considered to be the largest university in Latin America in terms of student population....
have named the fossil Palinurus palaecosi, and report that it is closest to members of the genus Palinurus
Palinurus (genus)

'Palinurus' is a genus of spiny lobsters in the family Palinuridae. A 110 million-year old fossil, recognisable as a member of the genus Palinurus, was discovered in a quarry in El Espinal in Mexico Chiapas state in 1995 and named P....
currently living off the coasts of Africa .

Ecology

Spiny lobsters are found in almost all warm seas, including the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
and the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea or Ocean off the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia....
, but are particularly common in Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania: New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes ....
, where they are referred to commonly as crayfish

Crayfish

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
(Jasus lalandii
Jasus lalandii

Jasus lalandii is a species of spiny lobster found off the coast of Southern Africa. It is not known whom the specific epithet lalandii commemorates, although it may be the French astronomer J?r?me Lalande ....
). A new species, Palinurus barbarae
Palinurus barbarae

Palinurus barbarae is a species of spiny lobster described in 2006, which was found by fisherman working the waters above the Walters Shoals, a series of seamount 700 km south of Madagascar....
was described in 2006.

Spiny lobsters tend to live in crevices of rocks and coral

Coral

Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone?like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals....
reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a Rock , bar , or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water .Many reefs result from abiotic processes?deposition of sand, wave erosion planning down rock outcrops, and other natural processes?but the best-known reefs are the coral reefs of tropical waters developed through biotic processes do...
s, only occasionally venturing out at night to seek snail

Snail

The word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled animal shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails....
s, clam

Clam

Clam is a word which can be used for all, some, or only a few species of bivalve mollusks; the word is a common name which has no real Taxonomy significance in biology....
s, crab

Crab

Crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax....
s, sea urchin

Sea urchin

Sea urchins are small, spiny, globular creatures that compose most of class Echinoidea. They are found in oceans all over the world. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from 3 to 10 cm across....
s or carrion

Carrion

Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters, or scavengers, include Hyenas, Vultures, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, Black Bears, Komodo Dragons, Bald Eagles, Raccoons and Blue-tongued lizards....
to eat. Sometimes, they migrate en masse, in long files of lobsters across the sea floor. These lines may be more than 50 lobsters long. Spiny lobsters navigate by using the smell and taste of natural substances in the water that change in different parts of the ocean. They keep together by contact, using their long antennae. Potential predators may be deterred from eating spiny lobsters by a loud screech made by the antennae of the spiny lobsters rubbing against a smooth part of the exoskeleton

Exoskeleton

An exoskeleton is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal endoskeleton of, for example, a human skeleton....
. Spiny lobsters usually exhibit social habit by being together. However recent studies indicate that healthy lobsters move away from infected ones leaving the diseased lobsters to fend for themselves .

Sound

Many spiny lobsters produce rasp

Rasp

A rasp is a woodworking tool used for shaping wood. It consists of a point or the tip, then a long steel bar or the belly, then the heel or bottom, then the tang....
ing sounds to repel predators. This is done by rubbing the "plectrum" at the base of the spiny lobster's antennae against a "file". The noise is produced by sticking and slipping, in the same way that a violin

Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
string is bowed, and is the only example of this kind of sound production in the animal kingdom . Significantly, the system does not rely on the hardness of the exoskeleton, as many other arthropod

Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
sounds do, meaning that the spiny lobsters can continue to produce the deterrent noises even in the period following a moult

Ecdysis

Ecdysis is the molting of the cuticula in arthropods and related groups . Since the cuticula of these animals is also the skeletal support of the body and is inelastic, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed....
when they are most vulnerable . The stridulating organ is present in all but three genera in the family (Jasus
Jasus

Jasus is a genus of spiny lobsters which live in the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere . They have two distinct "Horn " projecting from the front of the carapace, but lack the Stridulation present in almost all other genera of spiny lobsters ....
, Projasus and the furry lobster

Furry lobster

Furry lobsters are small decapoda crustaceans, closely related to the slipper lobsters and spiny lobsters. The antenna are not as enlarged as in spiny and slipper lobsters, and the body is covered in short seta, hence the name furry lobster....
Palinurellus ), and its form can distinguish different species .