Panulirus argus
Caribbean Spiny Lobster [+]

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Palinuridae
Genus: Panulirus
species: Panulirus argus
+ITIS +WoRMS +Conservation Status

Description & Behavior

The Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus (Latreille, 1804), aka Florida spiny lobster, grows to about 60 cm in length. Like the other 20 members of the genus Panulirus such as the Australian, California, and Chinese spiny lobsters, it lacks the large pinching claws of their Maine lobster relatives. Its only defense are the spines that cover its shell, which help protect the lobster from predators. The Caribbean spiny lobster uses a second pair of antennae in sensory perception, which are found folded along side the body when not in use. These lobsters have a striped body, brown-gray in color with yellow spots on the segmented tail. They have compound eyes and can detect orientation, form, light, and color. If startled, lobsters will kick their large abdominal tails rapidly to swim away backwards to safety.

World Range & Habitat

The Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, inhabits tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. This nocturnal species inhabits coral reefs where it hides during the day in crevices under ledges.

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Feeding Behavior (Ecology)

The Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, feeds primarily on gastropods, chitons, bivalves, and carrion from the ocean floor. It is also known to feed on sea urchins, worms, crustaceans, and some types of sea vegetation.

The Caribbean spiny lobster is preyed upon by many species such as moray eels and nurse sharks.

Life History

The Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, mates between March and June using external fertilization for reproduction. The reproductive glands are found on the sixth thoracic segment of females and on the eighth thoracic segment of males. During mating, the male passes a thick spermatophore to the female known as a "tarspot" that fertilizes her eggs. She carries the fertilized eggs externally on her thorax where they become hard and black. At this stage the female deposits the eggs in a protected place where they grow into a larval stage and become planktonic.

In south Florida, spawning occurs from April through October when water temperatures exceed 23°C. Settlement of pueruli, the free-swimming phase linking planktonic and benthic life stages, occurs year-round. A peak in settlement usually occurs during the spring and sometimes during other seasons.

Young juvenile lobsters, about 2.5 cm in carapace length, can grow up to 1.3 cm carapace length per week. This growth rate would allow some spiny lobsters to reach 7.6 cm in about 1.5 years after settlement. In general, although male lobsters grow faster than females, most Caribbean spiny lobster in Florida attain about 9 cm carapace length when they are about three years old.

Comments

The Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, is a popular seafood and commercially fished. Since about 1970, the commercial landings of Caribbean spiny lobster in Florida have varied without trend between 1,950,447-3,583,379 kg per fishing season. During the 2001 calendar year, the commercial fishery landed 1,538,837 kg in Florida.

Usually, less than a half million pounds are landed outside of the Florida Keys. Within the Keys, the fishery developed in the Key West area and expanded to the middle keys. This development occurred around 1968, when the minimum carapace length was decreased to 7.6 cm. The current fishing season opens on August 6 and closes March 31. Approximately 40% of the season's landings occur in August, which is followed by a sharp decrease in landings thereafter. Effort also declines after the opening of the stone crab fishery on October 15. A spiny lobster trap reduction program was implemented in August 1993 to reduce excess effort in the Keys lobster fishery.

References & Further Research

BioOne ~ CITES ~ Discover Life ~ GBIF ~ Google Scholar ~ ITIS ~ IUCN RedList ~ MarineBio Network ~ NCBI ~ SCIRIS ~ SIRIS ~ Tree of Life Web Project ~ Wikipedia

Holthuis, L.B., FAO species catalogue. Vol. 13. Marine lobsters of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species of interest to fisheries known to date, FAO Fisheries Synopsis. No. 125, Vol. 13. Rome, FAO. 1991. 292 p.

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Citation: Panulirus argus, Caribbean Spiny Lobster - MarineBio.org. Retrieved , from .

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Panulirus argus Caribbean Spiny Lobster [+]