Spiny Lobster

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The spiny lobster sport season will fall on July 27th and 28th for 2005. The bag limits are 6 per person per day for Monroe County and Biscayne National Park, and 12 per person per day for the rest of Florida. The possession limit on the water is equal to the daily bag limit, and off the water is equal to the daily bag limit on the first day, and double the daily bag limit on the second day. Possession limits are enforced on and off the water. Spiny lobster has a minimum size limit that must be larger than 3" carapace, measured in the water. A reminder that possession and use of a measuring device is required at all times, and night diving is prohibited in Monroe County (only during the sport season). A recreational saltwater license and a crawfish permit are needed for harvest. Regular spiny lobster season is August 6 through March 31. The bag limit is 6 per person per day. Harvest of lobster is prohibited in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park during the sport season. Harvest is also prohibited during both the 2-day sport season and regular season in Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, and no take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Call (305) 743-2437 or visit www.fknms.nos.noaa.gov for information about no take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Please call the MarathonLaw Enforcement office at (305) 289-2320 for lobster harvesting regulations for Monroe County. Recreational trapping of lobster is prohibited.
myfwc.com/marine/lobster.htm

Lobsters stay in their dens during daylight hours to avoid predators, emerging a couple of hours after dark to forage for food. While lobsters will eat almost anything, their favorite diet consists mostly of snails, clams, crabs, and urchins. The lobsters return to the safety of their dens several hours before sunrise.

Spiny Lobster
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Infraorder: Achelata
Family: Palinuridae

Although they superficially resemble true lobsters in terms of overall shape, and having a hard carapace and exoskeleton, the two groups are quite unrelated. Spinylobsters can be easily distinguished from true lobsters by their very long, thick, spiny antennae, and by their complete lack of claws (chelae); true lobsters have much smaller antennae and claws on the first three pairs of legs, with the first being particularly enlarged. Like true lobsters, however, spiny lobsters are edible and are an economically significant food source; they are the biggest food export of the Bahamas.

Spiny lobster (Palinurus vulgaris)
Spiny lobsters are found in almost all warm seas, including the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, but are particularly common around Australasia, where they are reffered to commonly as crayfish (Jasus novaehollandiae and Jasus edwardsii) and South Africa (Jasus lalandii). Spiny lobsters tend to live in crevices of rocks and coral reefs, only occasionally venturing out at night to seek snails, clams, crabs, sea urchins or carrion to eat. Sometimes, they migrate en masse, in long files of lobsters across the sea floor. Potential predators may be deterred from eating spiny lobsters by a loud screech made by the antennae of the spiny lobsters rubbing against a smooth part of the exoskeleton.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiny_lobster

Also see:
• Fresh Fish
• Stone Crab

Spiny Lobster Online