California Spiny Lobster

The California spiny lobster lives along the rocky Pacific coast from central California south through Baja California, Mexico. Unlike true lobsters, it has no large claws, relying instead on a pair of long, thick, forward pointing antennae covered in sharp spines for defense against predators. It spends daylight hours hidden in rocky crevices and kelp forest holdfasts, emerging at night to forage on snails, clams, sea urchins, and other slow moving invertebrates. The species undertakes seasonal migrations, sometimes moving in long single file lines across the sea floor between summer and winter grounds. It supports an important recreational and commercial fishery along the California and Baja coasts, caught primarily by divers and in baited traps. Its numbers are closely tied to the health of the kelp forest ecosystems it depends on for both shelter and prey.