WHAT'S IN A NAME?

There’s no mistaking one of these. It’s a lobster without claws. But what to call it? The common names include spiny lobster, langouste or langosta, crawfish and crayfish. To us, however, a crawfish or crayfish is a smaller lobster (with claws) that lives in rivers and lakes and anything beginning with lango is very likely to be confused with the langoustine, a smaller sea-dwelling lobster which normally becomes scampi (and also has claws). We’re OK with spiny lobster but rock lobster is our name of choice.

There are about 60 species. They’re found off most coasts worldwide (down to about 500 metres) but are much more common in warmer waters. Variants include the slipper lobster, the Moreton Bay bug and the furry lobster. Those three kinds and others are popular local foods but the internationally recognised rock lobsters - normally with two huge antennae - are from two families, the Palinurus and Panulirus (they are anagrams).

ROCKING ALL OVER THE WORLD

The Palinurus species occur between Scotland and Africa including most of the Mediterranean. These populations have been heavily fished over the last 100 years and especially from the 1970s when a new technique for catching them - the trammel net – replaced lobster pots.  This has resulted in significant declines in populations and landings. For instance in Corsica, the catch was 1,000 tons a year in the 1920s, 350 tons in the 1970s, and around 40 tons in recent years. A traditional lobster fishery off Mauritania in Africa was “discovered” by French fishing fleets in the 1950s. They took 3,500 tons in 1961 but within 15 years there were so few lobsters left that there was no point in trying to catch them. However, this species, the Palinurus mauritanicus was very fertile, so the stocks recovered. In 1986, the French boats returned and caught 900 tons. The fishery collapsed again. It’s back in business currently, although at a low level and apparently open only to local fishermen. Fishing by European vessels in Mauritanian waters is now governed by a detailed agreement with the EU which bars them from targeting rock lobster.

There’s very little international trade in Palinurus lobsters because they're mainly caught in rich countries which have an insatiable demand for them. Indeed a very large proportion of the catch – which escapes official statistics - is caught by artisanal fisherman and sold to local restaurants. In Greece, the officially recorded landings in the 1990s were 23 tons, but it’s estimated landings sold to local restaurants without being recorded approached 200 tons. The inaccuracy in records due to unrecorded landings is a major problem in the management of rock lobster fisheries.

The Panulirus genus comprises about 20 species. These are found off all tropical and near tropical coasts. Some species are quite localised. For instance Panulirus argus also known as the Caribbean spiny lobster is found from Florida down to Brazil and the Panulirus interruptus or Californian spiny lobster off California and Mexico. There’s also an Easter Island spiny lobster, a Japanese, a Hawaiian and a Chinese. However, the blue spiny lobster is found across a huge range between the whole western coast of Africa and a line between Japan and the tiny islands of the south Pacific. The long-legged spiny lobster shares much of the same territory.