California Spiny Lobster
Panulirus interruptus
Longlegged spiny lobster
Panulirus longipes
About
The longlegged spiny lobster spends its days tucked into crevices and comes out to feed after dark, relying on its speckled shell to stay hidden on the reef.
Also known as: long-legged spiny lobster
- Depth
- 1–18 m
How to tell it apart
Other spotted spiny lobsters share the white-spotted body, but check the legs for the pale stripes described above; plain-legged lookalikes lack them.
Appearance
Its body is dark brown or bluish-brown, covered with round white spots that are denser on the abdomen and sparser elsewhere. The legs carry pale stripes running their length, sometimes with a single white spot near the tip.
Habitat
This lobster lives on shallow rocky and coral reefs in the tropical Indo-Pacific, usually between 1 and 18 m deep, though it has been found as deep as 122 m.
Behaviour
It is nocturnal, hiding in rock crevices and under boulders by day and feeding on molluscs and other bottom-dwelling animals at night. If threatened, it makes an audible sound to startle predators. Females carry their eggs under the abdomen for months before the larvae hatch and drift as plankton.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
