California Spiny Lobster
Panulirus interruptus
Southern Rock Lobster
Jasus edwardsii
About
The southern rock lobster, known locally as crayfish or koura, is a spiny lobster common on reefs around southern Australia and New Zealand. It looks much like a true lobster but lacks the large front pincers.
Also known as: new zealand crayfish, spiny rock lobster, crayfish, red rock lobster
- Depth
- up to 200 m
How to tell it apart
It can look like a true lobster from a distance. The lack of large claws on the front legs, replaced by long spiny antennae, is the mark to check.
Appearance
This is a spiny lobster with a hard, armoured shell and long antennae, but no large claws on its front legs. Colour varies from dark red and orange above with a paler yellowish underside, to grey-green brown with a paler belly, with brighter colours more common in warmer water.
Habitat
Lives on rocky reefs and among boulders and algae, from 5 to 200 m deep, favouring spots with plenty of crevices and hiding places. It shelters by day and is found along the coasts of southern Australia and New Zealand, including their outlying islands.
Behaviour
This is a nocturnal, gregarious animal, sheltering in rock crevices during the day and coming out to feed at night. Females carry their fertilised eggs under the tail for three to five months before the young hatch and drift off as plankton.
Diet
It is a carnivore, feeding on small crustaceans, molluscs, and echinoderms such as sea urchins and sea stars.
Did you know?
Its larvae drift in the open ocean for anywhere from 9 months to 2 years, one of the longest larval journeys known in any marine animal, before finally settling on the coast.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
