Panulirus homarus
species of crustacean
Panulirus homarus is a species of spiny lobster that lives along the coasts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It lives in shallow water, and feeds on the brown mussel Perna perna. It typically grows to a length of 20–25 cm (7.9–9.8 in). Alongside the dark green nominate subspecies, two red subspecies are recognised, one around the Arabian Peninsula, and one around southern Africa. It is the subject of small-scale fishery.
Distribution
Panulirus homarus is found in the Indo-West Pacific region, from East Africa along the coast of the Indian Ocean, as far as the Malay Archipelago, and then along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean to Japan in the north and Australia, New Caledonia and probably the Marquesas Islands in the south.
Panulirus homarus lives in shallow water, usually 1–5 metres (3 ft 3 in – 16 ft 5 in) deep, including among rocks in the surf zone, but occasionally up to 90 m (300 ft), and in turbid water.
Description
The body of P. homarus can reach up to 31 centimetres (12 in) in total length, or a carapace length of 12 cm (4.7 in), but the average is around 20–25 cm (8–10 in).
There is variation in the colouration, which parallels other morphological differences; most animals are dark green and have only very small squamae in the grooves of the abdominal tergites. Other animals are red, and have much more prominent sculpturation in the grooves on the abdominal tergites.
The public source identifies “Panulirus homarus” as species of crustacean. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Panulirus, homarus and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q452607. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Panulirus homarus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.