Description: A spiny lobster with very long, thick cylindrical antennae which are longer than the body. The first pair of walking legs is not enlarged and has no chelae (claws). The carapace is elongated and slightly compressed. The abdomen is divided in somites, each with a groove in the middle and two large white spots; the large somite has a single white spot. Dark brown or purple in colour; the legs are longitudinally streaked with brown and yellowish. The antennae are brown with transversal white blotches.
Global Distribution: North-Eastern Atlantic from Norway to Morocco and throughout the Mediterranean. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum carapace length 50.0 cm, common lenth 40.0 cm.
Reproduction: Mating occurs once a year between June and October, depending on the region. Off southwest Portugal, the ovigerous season extends from September to March, with an individual incubation period of five months Egg-laying peaks in September and October in the Atlantic. Larger females mate and lay eggs earlier during breeding season while smaller females spawn towards the end of the season. This species is less fecund than other commercial lobsters of the family Palinuridae.
Maturity: France: Females 95 mm CL; Western Mediterranean: Females 76-77 mm CL; males 86 mm CL (but at the same age).
Behavioural ecology: Small juveniles are nocturnal, hiding in holes and crevices during the day and leaving their shelters to forage at night. Adults are solitary, or found in pairs or small groups. They often have individual but nearby shelters
Population structure & migrations: There are at least two genetically distinct populations, one in the Atlantic and one in the Mediterranean.
In the Atlantic, P. elephas undertakes a pre-reproductive spring onshore migration and a post-reproductive offshore migration in late autumn. Most individuals have a home range no larger than 5 km.
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: SeaLifeBase: 5 - 200 m, usually 10 - 70 m.
Habitat: Benthic, littoral, on rocky, or less often sandy, bottoms. It prefers protected locations such as caves and crevices.
Feeding habits: Omnivorous, preying on hard-shelled bottom dwelling organisms, including molluscs, echinoderms and crustaceans. They are generalists and opportunistic feeders depending on the abundance of benthic organisms; however feeding trials showed a preference for invertebrates over fish.
Trophic level:
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Valuable commercial species, but seldom captured in Madeira. Captured with traps.
Conservation status: Vulnerable.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value 94.6 kcal (4.7% DRV)
protein 18.11 g (36.2% DRV)
fat 1.91 g (2.7% DRV)
of which saturates 0.462 g (2.3% DRV)
omega-3 (EPA+DHA): 0.389 g (recommended: 0.250 - 2.0 g daily)
REFERENCES
Babbucci M., Buccoli S., Cau A., Cannas R., Goñi R., DÃaz D., Marcato S., Zane L., Patarnello T. (2010). Population structure, demographic history, and selective processes: Contrasting evidences from mitochondrial and nuclear markers in the European spiny lobster Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56: 1040-1050.
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
Goñi R., Latrouite D. (2005). Review of the biology, ecology and fisheries of Palinurus spp. species of European waters: Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) and Palinurus mauritanicus (Gruvel, 1911). Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 46(2): 127-142.
Holthuis L. B. (1991). FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 13. Marine Lobsters of the World. An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Species of Interest Known to date. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, 292 pp.
Hunter E. (1999). Biology of the European spiny lobster, Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787)(decapoda, palinuridea). Crustaceana, 72(6): 545-565.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Reale A., Ziino M., Ottolenghi F., Pelusi P., Romeo V., Condurso C., Sanfilippo M. (2006). Chemical composition and nutritional value of some marine species from the Egadi Islands. Chemistry and Ecology, 22(sup1): S173-S179.
