South African Rock Lobster

The South African rock lobster, also known as the Cape rock lobster, lives along the cold, nutrient rich waters of the southwestern African coast, from Namibia south around the Cape to South Africa. Like other spiny lobsters, it lacks large claws, instead carrying long spiny antennae and a heavily spined reddish brown carapace. It lives on rocky reef and kelp forest bottoms, sheltering in crevices during the day and foraging at night on mussels, sea urchins, and other invertebrates. The species has long supported one of South Africa's most valuable inshore fisheries, exported widely as a seafood delicacy. Decades of intense harvesting drove the population down sharply through the twentieth century, leading to strict catch quotas and a continuing, carefully managed recovery effort. It is an important predator within the kelp forest food web, and its decline has been linked to shifts in urchin and abalone populations along the same coast.