California spiny lobsters use visual sensing to detect predators, and chemical stimuli are perceived through the small antennae. Sensory hairs cover their appendages, including the long antennae, which are used for tactile perception. They also rub the base of their antennae against a file-like surface under each eye to generate strident warning noises to scare off potential predators.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; vibrations ; chemical
California spiny lobsters have not been evaluated by the IUCN or the US Fish and Wildlife Service. However, fishing removes considerable numbers of this species which may not be sustainable.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: no special status
Female California spiny lobsters produce between 50,000 and 800,000 eggs per brood, which are carried underneath the abdomen by pleopods until they hatch. After hatching, young are released into the water column as phyllosoma larvae. California spiny lobsters undergo 11 distinct phyllosoma stages. They range in size from 1.2 to 1.5 mm in Stage I and from 26 to 31.2 mm in Stage XI. During these stages, they are completely planktonic, drifting with water currents. This is the most hazardous part of the life cycle. After growth and development in the water column, larvae metamorphose into puerulus, assuming the body characteristics of the adult. Puerulus settle to the seafloor and grow into juvenile lobsters.
Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis ; indeterminate growth
There are no known adverse effects of California spiny lobsters, although their spiny carapace can cut an unprotected hand of sport fishermen.
Negative Impacts: injures humans
California spiny lobsters have supported recreational and commercial fishing in Southern California since the late 1800s. From 1916 until 1942, annual commercial landings ranged between 90 to 180 metric tons, and in 2003 over 270 metric tons were harvested. The magnitude and impact of the recreational fishing for this species is unknown.
Positive Impacts: food
California spiny lobsters are important coastal nearshore predators that have been shown to regulate the population of several key invertebrate species such as purple urchins and the mussel species Mytilus californianus. They also act as hosts to sponges, hydroids, barnacles, serpulida, krill-like amphipods and nemertean (Carcinonemertes wickhami).
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
California spiny lobsters are omnivorous bottom feeders that scavenge dead animals, algae, and detritus. They also consume invertebrates such as the species of mussel Mytilus californianus and urchins Strongylocentrotus franciscanus and S. purpuratus. California spiny lobsters use their mandibles to chip away at the shells of M. californianus In the winter, California spiny lobsters occasionally eat coralline algae. Their diet varies seasonally, and males generally consume a wider variety of prey than females.
Animal Foods: fish; carrion ; mollusks; aquatic or marine worms; aquatic crustaceans; echinoderms; other marine invertebrates
Plant Foods: algae; macroalgae
Other Foods: detritus
Primary Diet: carnivore (Eats non-insect arthropods, Scavenger ); detritivore
California spiny lobsters are found on the Pacific coast of North America from Monterey Bay, California (though rarely found north of Point Conception) to Baja California, Mexico. They are occasionally found within the Gulf of California.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); pacific ocean (Native )
California spiny lobsters prefer rocky reef habitats, where they den in crevices. They occasionally are found in tide pools, but are more frequently found in deeper water up to 65 m in depth. California spiny lobsters seek the cover of kelp forests and surf grass.
Range depth: 65 (high) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; saltwater or marine
Aquatic Biomes: benthic ; coastal
Other Habitat Features: intertidal or littoral
Lifespan of California spiny lobsters is difficult to determine because their exoskeleton is periodically molted. Individuals in the wild have been known to live between 11 and 30 years, while in captivity they have survived 8 to 25 years.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 11 to 30 years.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 8 to 25 years.
California spiny lobsters average 908 g in mass and range from 454 to 2270 g. On average, they are 30 cm long, though they can measure as large as 90 cm in length. Males are generally larger than females. The body of California spiny lobsters consists of a cephalothorax, which includes the head and legs, and an abdomen and tail, which has paddle-like swimming structures. The exoskeleton is generally red to orange in color with black markings. Spiny projections are located on the carapace (upper shell) and sides of the abdomen. Their two primary antennae may equal the length of their body. Their compound eyes rest on short stalks protected by curved spines. Unlike Maine lobsters in which the first pair of thoracic appendages are specially modified as chelipds (claws), all five pairs of appendages of California spiny lobsters are used for walking.
Range mass: 454 to 2270 g.
Average mass: 908 g.
Range length: 90 (high) cm.
Average length: 30 cm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger
To ward off predators, California spiny lobsters produce rasping noises by stridulating the base of the antennae against a file-like eyespot. They also attempt to flee, swimming backwards by repeatedly and rapidly flexing their abdomen. If caught by a predator, decopods self-autotomize (purposely cast off an appendage) to escape. California spiny lobsters are preyed upon by octopuses, California sheephead, cabezon, kelp bass, California moray eels, horn sharks, leopard sharks, giant sea bass, and various rockfish. Humans also fish for California spiny lobsters.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: aposematic ; cryptic
Mating of California spiny lobsters generally begins under moderate sea surface temperatures, usually during upwelling conditions. Mating takes place in water 15 to 30 m deep from December through March. During copulation, male California spiny lobsters deposit spermatophores on the sternum of a female. Females then move inshore to shallow water (usually less than 15 m in depth) and extrude 50,000 to 800,000 eggs. These eggs are fertilized by sperm released from the spermatophores, and they attach in masses to feathery pleopods beneath the abdomen of females.
Mature California spiny lobsters mate between December and March and spawn between March and August. Spawning occurs once a year and reproduction peaks in June. Females produce 50,000 to 800,000 eggs with each brood. Females reach sexual maturity at 5 to 9 years of age, while males reach sexual maturity at 3 to 6 years of age.
Breeding interval: California spiny lobsters breed once a year during warmer months.
Breeding season: California spiny lobsters spawn between March and August.
Range number of offspring: 50,000 to 800,000.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 5 to 9 years.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 3 to 6 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (External ); oviparous
After spawning in late spring, female California spiny lobsters hold their fertilized eggs in their abdomen until they hatch. Females have feathery appendages that carefully hold the eggs as well as small pincers on the fifth pair of walking legs used to groom and maintain the egg mass.
Parental Investment: female parental care ; pre-hatching/birth (Protecting: Female)
From the years 2010 to 2013, total landings of lobsters brought in over 50 million dollars to the California economy, and in 2013 spiny lobsters were ranked the fourth most lucrative fishery in California.
P. interuptus are able to eat urchins whole (including the test itself) until a certain size that depends on the size of the individual lobster in question.If they are unable to eat them whole they physically manipulate the urchin by flipping them upside down and piercing the peristomial membrane to access the internal organs.Usually when this strategy is employed the test is not consumed.
it is reddish-black in colour with long legs,broad tail ,small pincers and long moustaches. can grow to gigantic size andthey eat almost everything from carrion to live fish.they are found inthe salty water of monterey bay,california and the gulf of Mexico.
The California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) is a species of spiny lobster found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Monterey Bay, California, to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico. It typically grows to a length of 30 cm (12 in) and is a reddish-brown color with stripes along the legs, and has a pair of enlarged antennae but no claws. The interrupted grooves across the tail are characteristic for the species.
Females can carry up to 680,000 eggs, which hatch after 10 weeks into flat phyllosoma larvae. These feed on plankton before the metamorphosis into the juvenile state. Adults are nocturnal and migratory, living among rocks at depths of up to 65 m (213 ft), and feeding on sea urchins, clams, mussels and worms. The spiny lobster is eaten by various fish, octopuses and sea otters, but can defend itself with a loud noise produced by its antennae. The California spiny lobster is the subject of both commercial and recreational fishery in both Mexico and the United States, with sport fishermen using hoop nets and commercial fishermen using lobster traps.
In common with all spiny lobsters, the California spiny lobster has two large, spiny antennae, but no large claws on its legs. The California spiny lobster is one of the largest spiny lobster species,[4] and grows up to 60 centimeters (24 in) long, but does not usually exceed 30 cm (12 in).[3] Males can weigh up to 7.4 kilograms (16 lb).,[4] with the record being a 16 lbs., 1 oz. male caught off Catalina island in 1968. The upper side of the animal is brownish red, without the paler bands or spots seen in some other spiny lobsters. The legs are a similar color, but with one or more lighter streaks running along their length.[3]
Males and females of all ages can be distinguished by the position of the two round genital openings or gonopores. In females, they are at the bases of the third pair of pereiopods, while in males they are at the base of the fifth (last) pereiopods, furthest from the head and the closest to the abdomen. Mature females have a small claw on the fifth pereiopod, and enlarged pleopods.[5]
The California spiny lobster is found in parts of the Gulf of California, and along the Pacific coast of the length of the Baja California peninsula, extending as far north as San Luis Obispo Bay, California.[3] There are occasional records from Monterey Bay, but the water there is too cold for the California spiny lobster to breed, and it is thought that any adult found in Central California arrived as a larva during El Niño years.[6]
California spiny lobsters live on rocky substrates, at depths of up to 65 meters (213 ft). Although adults can be found in shallow water, including tide pools, they are more frequent in deeper waters.[3] Juveniles generally inhabit rocky habitats at a depth of 0–4 m (0–13 ft) with dense plant cover, especially the surf grass Phyllospadix torreyi.[7]
California spiny lobsters are nocturnal,[3] hiding in crevices during the day, with only the tips of their long antennae showing, as a means of avoiding predators. Towards dawn, the spiny lobsters form aggregations, which they maintain until dusk.[8] At night, they emerge and feed on sea urchins, clams, mussels and worms.[9] This activity is important in limiting sea urchin populations, and so maintaining healthy seabed communities.[6]
Natural predators of the California spiny lobster include bony fish such as the California sheephead, giant sea bass and cabezone, sharks including the horn shark and leopard shark, octopuses and sea otters.[4] In response to an approaching predator, spiny lobsters including the California spiny lobster can produce a loud noise using the stick-slip phenomenon, akin to a bowed instrument. The bases of the antennae act as a plectrum, which is rubbed over a file on the edge of the antennular plate.[10] If a predator is very close, spiny lobsters will flex their muscular tail in order to escape the predator, backwards.[9]
There is an annual migration, in which spiny lobsters enter shallower water in spring and summer, and head out to deeper water in fall and winter, reaching depths as great as 240 ft (73 m), perhaps to avoid the effects of winter storms.[4]
Female California spiny lobsters reach sexual maturity at a length of 65–69 millimeters (2.6–2.7 in), which is typically at an age of 5–9 years; males are sexually mature after 3–6 years.[5] Because all the hard parts are lost at each molt, the life span of mature spiny lobsters is uncertain;[5] they are thought to live for 50 years or more.[4]
Spiny lobsters do not have the gonopods (first pleopods modified for reproduction) that occur in clawed lobsters and crabs, and females do not have a deep pocket on the sternum in which to store sperm.[11] Instead, a spermatophore is transferred directly from one of the male's gonopores to the sternum of the female. The male gonopore is, however, adorned with a "penile process", which is straight and serrated, with a small "hairbrush". The sternum of mature females has three "windows" on the last three segments, which uniquely among Panulirus species, span both halves of the sternum.[11] These windows are softer than the rest of the exoskeleton, and are thought to help the male locate the correct location to place the tar-like spermatophore.[11]
After mating, the fertilized eggs are carried on the female's pleopods until they hatch, with between 120,000 and 680,000 carried by a single female.[6] The eggs begin coral red, but darken as they develop to a deep maroon.[5] When she is carrying the eggs, the female is said to be "berried". The eggs are ready to hatch after 10 weeks,[6] and spawning takes place from May to August,[3] The larvae that hatch (called phyllosoma larvae) do not resemble the adults. Instead, they are flat, transparent animals around 14 mm (0.55 in) long, but as thin as a sheet of paper.[12] The larvae feed on plankton,[5] and grow through ten molts into ten further larval stages, the last of which is around 30–32 mm (1.2–1.3 in) long.[12] The full series of larval molts takes around 7 months, and when the last stage molts, it metamorphoses into the puerulus state, the final larval stage, still transparent.[12] The puerulus larvae settle to the sea floor when the water is near its maximum temperature, which in Baja California is in the fall.[13]
The diet of the juveniles is varied, but comprises mostly amphipods and isopods, together with coralline algae and the plant Phyllospadix. When available, the juveniles prefer to eat crabs.[14]
In his original description, John Witt Randall noted that the California spiny lobster is "used as food by the natives" of Upper California.[15] The California spiny lobster is now the most economically important lobster on the American West Coast.[3] Sport fishing may account for up to half the entire catch, while most of the commercial catch comes from lobster traps, with smaller amounts coming from the use of trammel nets or by trawling. The major fishing area is west of Baja California, and imports from Mexico to the United States are twice the amount produced in California.[3]
Recreational fishermen are allowed to catch lobsters with hoop nets or by SCUBA diving or free-diving; almost all come from California, with only small numbers from other U.S. states. The California Department of Fish and Game estimates that recreational fishers caught more than 200,000 spiny lobsters in the first half of the 2008/2009 season, amounting to around 280,000 pounds (130,000 kg), compared to commercial fishermen, who caught a total of 580,000 lb (260,000 kg) in the same time.[16]
The California Department of Fish and Game sets and enforces a number of regulations pertaining to recreational fishing of spiny lobsters:[4]
The open season for commercial fishing begins on the first Wednesday in October and runs until the first Wednesday after the 15th of March. Commercial fishermen may use individually buoyed traps, but may not dive for lobsters.[17]
For those using lobster traps, the fishing effort is greatest at the beginning of the permitted season in California, and peters out towards the end of the season, 24 weeks later. Although the fishing effort becomes better concentrated on areas with more spiny lobsters during the season, the fishing efficiency (catch per unit effort) nonetheless decreases throughout the season.[18]
In Mexico, spiny lobsters are an important commercial resource, representing the fifth most valuable fishery, worth US$18 million. Three species are exploited along the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula, but the catch of 744 t of the California spiny lobster makes up 95%–97% of the total, with only small quantities of Panulirus inflatus and Panulirus gracilis.[14] The fishing rights are held by 26 local co-operatives.[7]
The main legal restrictions on fishing for California spiny lobster in Mexico are a minimum landing size of 82.5 mm (3.25 in), the prohibition of catching berried females, and a closed season:[7] from February 16 to September 14, fishing for spiny lobsters is prohibited in a region which moves south along Mexico's Pacific coast during the season.[19]
The Mexican fishery for the California spiny lobster was the first Latin American fishery to be awarded the Marine Stewardship Council's sustainable fishery ecolabel,[20] and the species is classed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.[1]
Panulirus interruptus is called the California spiny lobster by the Food and Agriculture Organization, but a number of other local, vernacular names exist, including California lobster, California marine crayfish, and red lobster in the United States, and langosta colorada and langosta roja in Mexico.[3] The preferred common name of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is simply spiny lobster.[5]
John Witt Randall described the species in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1840, based on material given to him by Thomas Nuttall.[15] The exact locality is not known, being given only as "Upper California", but the most likely sources are the places where Nuttall was most active, namely Santa Barbara and San Diego.[3] The specific epithet interruptus refers to the grooves on the abdominal tergites, which are interrupted in this species.[21] Although originally placed in the genus Palinurus, the California spiny lobster was later transferred to Adam White's new genus Panulirus, together with other spiny lobsters that have long flagella on their first antennae.[3]
The closest relatives are not the other species that occur in the East Pacific, but rather Panulirus argus from the Caribbean Sea and West Pacific species such as Panulirus japonicus, Panulirus marginatus, Panulirus pascuensis, Panulirus cygnus and Panulirus longipes; this relationship has been recovered from comparative studies of adult and larval morphology,[21] as well as from molecular phylogenetics, using the sequences from cytochrome c oxidase and 16S ribosomal RNA genes.[22]
The California spiny lobster can be differentiated from the other species in the genus by the interrupted grooves across the abdomen; other species either lack grooves, or have grooves which span the entire body segment.[3]
The California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) is a species of spiny lobster found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Monterey Bay, California, to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico. It typically grows to a length of 30 cm (12 in) and is a reddish-brown color with stripes along the legs, and has a pair of enlarged antennae but no claws. The interrupted grooves across the tail are characteristic for the species.
Females can carry up to 680,000 eggs, which hatch after 10 weeks into flat phyllosoma larvae. These feed on plankton before the metamorphosis into the juvenile state. Adults are nocturnal and migratory, living among rocks at depths of up to 65 m (213 ft), and feeding on sea urchins, clams, mussels and worms. The spiny lobster is eaten by various fish, octopuses and sea otters, but can defend itself with a loud noise produced by its antennae. The California spiny lobster is the subject of both commercial and recreational fishery in both Mexico and the United States, with sport fishermen using hoop nets and commercial fishermen using lobster traps.
