Caribbean Spiny Lobster

Photo: terence zahner · CC BY-NC

Caribbean spiny lobsters are conspicuous at Tesoro Island reef, their long antennae projecting from crevices in the coral rubble throughout the day and entire individuals emerging to forage on open sand after dark. They are an ecologically important prey species for nurse sharks, large groupers, and hawksbill turtles, and their density at this protected site reflects the absence of the trap fishing that has depleted lobster populations on nearby unprotected reefs. Large aggregations of lobsters also occur during their annual autumn spawning migration, when lines of hundreds of animals march single-file across the seafloor in a behaviour unique to this species.