(Fabricius, 1787)

Diagnosis:
Propodus of first pereiopod of male with an anterodorsal spine. Abdominal somites with a single distinct transverse groove. Legs longitudinally streaked with brown and yellowish. Colour dark brown or purple; abdominal somites two to five each with a distinct pair of large white spots, somite six with a single posteromedian white spot.

Type:
Type locality of Astacus elephas Fabricius, 1787 (and Palinurus quadricornis Fabricius, 1798): the original statement of the type locality "Habitat in Americae meridionalis Insulis" is erroneous. As shown in Fabricius' description of the large supraorbital horns as dentate, and by his reference to Herbst's (1792: 2 (2): pl.29 fig. 1), his specimen was the common European spiny lobster (in 1787 Fabricius referred to the then still unpublished figure by Herbst). Herbst gives as the locality of his material: 'im Mittelländischen Meer" and elaborates: "In Italien wird er häufig gegessen und auf den Markten verkauft". We may therefore correct the type locality to "Italy". A syntype, originally preserved dry, but recently transferred to alcohol is kept in UZM, condition reasonable. A second dry syntype is in ZMB, no.19649, condition good; this is the specimen figured by Herbst, 1792.
Type locality of Cancer locusta Wulfen: near Rovinj, Yugoslavia. The type was bought at the fish market of Trieste, Italy (for 2 florins) from a fisherman from Rovinj: "Non aliter, quam duorum florenorum pretio hunc mihi Tergestino in foro Cancrumpiscator vendidit Rovignensis" (Wulfen, 1791: 314); its present whereabouts unknown.
Type locality of Palinurus vulgaris Latreille: "dans l'Ocean Asiatique et dans la Mediterranée". Types in MP no longer extant (not located in 1989).
Type locality of Palinurus marinus Bate, 1868. The name "marinus" probably is a lapsus for "vulgaris", but if the specific names is considered to be new, the type locality of the species is the south coast of Devon and Cornwall, U.K. "mostly between Bigbury Bay [Devon] toward the east, and the Dodman [Cornwall) toward the west"; whereabouts of type material unknown.
Type locality of Pagurus maculatus Bowdich: Madeira.Types probably no longer extant.

Geographical Distribution:
Eastern Atlantic, from southwestern Norway to Morocco, also in the Mediterranean, except the extreme eastern and south eastern parts.

Habitat and Biology:
On rocky bottoms, rarely on sand, in depths from 5 to 160 m, mostly between 10 and 70 m. Ovigerous females from September-October to February-March.

Size:
Maximum total body length 50 cm, but usually not larger than 40 cm.

Interest to Fisheries:
The species is mostly caught with lobster pots, occasionally on hook-and-line and by spearing, rarely with trawls, tangles, or trammel nets. Longhurst (1970: 260) reported the catching of this species "by full-time SCUBA divers off southwest England". In the central and western Mediterranean the species is regularly found at fishmarkets, and in the eastern Atlantic, outside the Mediterranean, it is fished on a minor scale in England, and more intensively in France and Portugal. No catch statisics are known but probably the catches of Palinurus spp. reported in the FAO Yearbook of Fisheries Statistics correspond partly to P. elephas and partly to P. mauritanicus (4921 tons in 1987and 7869 tons in 1988).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Crustacea
Order Decapoda
Suborder Macrura Reptantia
Superfamily Palinuroidea
Family Palinuridae
Genus Palinurus
Species Palinurus elephas

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787)

Synonyms:
Astacus elephas Fabricius, 1787, Mantissa Insectorum, 1: 331. Name placed on the Official List of Species Names in Zoology in Opinion 519 (published in 1958).
Cancer elephas Gmelin, 1789
Cancer locusta Wulfen, 1791 (not Cancer locusta Linnaeus, 1758) (= Gammarus locusta ( L. ))
Palinurus quadricornis Fabricius, 1798
Palinurus vulgaris Latreille, 1803
Palinurus locusta Olivier, 1811
Palinurus langusta Rafinesque, 1814 (nom.nud.)
Pagurus maculatus Bowdich, 1825 (not Pagurus maculatus Risso, 1827 ( = Paguristes eremita (L., 1767))
Palinurus marinus Bate, 1868. "(Palinurus) adriaticus, Costa" was cited by Carus (1885: 487) under Palinurus and treated as a good species of that genus. Stephensen (1923: 77) treated "Palinurus adriaticus Costa" as a synonym of P. elephas (which he indicated as P. vulgaris). However, there exists no Palinurus adriaticus Costa, as Costa never described such a species. He did describe Palaemon adriaticus in "Fauna del Regno di Napoli" (Crostacei; Pandalus): 7 in 1844-1847. It is clear that with Palinurus adriaticus Carus really meant Palaemon adriaticus Costa, since he cited textually Costa's diagnosis for that species. It is interesting that Carus (1885: 474) listed Palaemon adriaticus Costa under the species incertae of the genus Palaemon, again with the same diagnosis.

FAO Names:
Common spiny lobster [English]
Langouste rouge [French]
Langosta común [Spanish]

Local Names:
CYPRUS: Astakos
DENMARK: Langust
FRANCE: Langouste, Langouste commune, Langouste europèenne
GERMANY: Languste, Europäische languste, Gemeine languste
GREECE: Astakis
ITALY: Aragosta mediterranea (official name), Aragosta, Aligusta, Arigusta
MALTA: Agusta
MONACO: Lengusta
MOROCCO: Azeffane, Bakhouche, Langouste
NETHERLANDS: Langoest, Hoornkreeft
NORWAY: Langust
PORTUGAL: Lagosta
SPAIN: Langosta, Llagosta
SWEDEN: Langust
TUNISIA: Jarradh el bahr, Jrad bharr, Sid
TURKEY: Bocek, Beudic
UK: Spiny lobster, Crawfish, Red crab, Sea crayfish
YUGOSLAVIA: Jastog

Fabricius, J.C., 1787. Mantissa Insectorum sistens eorum species nuper detectes adiectis characteribus genericis, differentiis specificis, emendationibus, observationibus: 1: i-xx, 1-348

Fischer, W., G. Bianchi and W.B. Scott (eds), 1981. FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Central Atlantic (Fishing Areas 34,47 in part), vol. 5:pag.var.

Fischer, W., M.-L. Bauchot and M. Schneider (eds), 1987. Fiches FAO d'identification des espèces pour les besoins de la pêche. Méditerranée et Mer Noire (Zone de Pêche 37), révision 1, vol.1:293-319, figs

Herbst, J.F.W., 1791-1796. Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der Krabben und Krebse nebst einer systematischen Beschreibung ihrer verschiedenen Arten, 2:i-viii,1-226, pls 22-46

Longhurst, A.R., 1970. Crustacean resources. In: J.A. Gulland (ed.), The fish resources of the oceans. FAO Fisheries technical Paper, 97:252-305, 1 map

Palombi, A. and M. Santarelli, 1961. Gli animali commestibili dei mari d'Italia. Descrizione - biologia - pesca - valore economico e nomi italiani dialettali e stranieri dei pesci - tunicati - echinodermi - molluschi - crostacei ad uso dei pescatori di professione, dilettanti e subacquei (ed. 2): 1-xi,1-437 figs

Rolland, E., 1881. Les reptiles, les poissons, les mollusques, les crustacés et les insectes. Noms vulgaires, dictons, proverbes, légendes, contes et superstitions. Faune populaire de la France, 3:i-xv,1-354

Stephensen, K., 1923. Decapoda-Macrura excl. Sergestidae. Reports Danish oceanographical Expeditions 1908-10 Mediterranean, 2 (D3):1-85, figs 1-27, maps 1-8

Wulfen, F.X. de, 1791. Descriptiones zoologicae ad Adriatici littora maris concinnatae. Nova Acta Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Germaniae Naturae Curiosorum, 8:235-359

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