California Spiny Lobster
Panulirus interruptus · Crustacean
A spiny lobster of the Pacific coast from California to southern Mexico, usually up to 30 cm though some reach 60 cm and 7 kg, reddish brown, with long spiny antennae and no large claws. By day it hides in rock crevices, alone or with up to 15 others, only the antennae showing; at night it comes out to eat urchins, clams, mussels and worms, and it plays a key role in the life of the kelp forests. Threatened, it rasps a loud noise with its antennae, and it moves to deeper water in autumn and winter. The natives of California already ate it when it was described, and it is now the most valuable lobster of the American West Coast, caught in traps and hoop nets.
- Danger
- Harmless
- How it is met
- In colonies, by night
- Size
- Small
- In winter
- Leaves for winter
Where it lives
Rocky Shore, Coastal Shelf, Kelp Forest
Gives
Sources
Open it in Biomes — MGS Toolbox