📸 PhotoPhoto: Niels from Amsterdam, NL · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Japanese spiny lobster
Panulirus japonicus (Japanese spiny lobster · イセエビ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum total body length of 30 cm is almost equal to the long side of an A4 sheet of paper (about 29.7 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 SeaLifeBase classifies the Japanese spiny lobster as a commercial fishery species. Because the Korean record comes from a specimen caught by net off Jeju Island, it can be seen as a large lobster encountered in Jeju waters.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Japanese spiny lobster is a large spiny lobster (family Palinuridae) living in shallow rocky seas of the western Pacific from Japan, China, and Taiwan to Jeju Island in Korea. The IUCN Red List assessed it as Data Deficient (DD) in 2011.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is dark brown overall, with three or four small white dots on the abdomen. The eyestalks and walking leg stripes are pinkish red, and the carapace is nearly cylindrical and covered with fine hairs. The antennular flagella are slightly longer than half the body length.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It lives on sandy-rocky bottoms and coral reefs at depths of 1–90 m, mainly shallower than 25 m. SeaLifeBase records it on rocky bottoms at 1–15 m.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
The National List of Species of Korea records the Japanese spiny lobster in Gyeongsangnam-do, Jeollanam-do, and Jeju Island, including a specimen caught by gill net off Seongsanpo, Jeju Island in 2008.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List DD (2011) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/170006/6704413
- • IUCN Red List category DD — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • marinespecies.org — aphia.php
- • iucnredlist.org — 6704413
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000049165 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000049165
- • wikidata.org — Q1147579
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:WLANL - Pachango - Sieboldhuis - Panulirus Japonicus.jp
- • sealifebase.se — Panulirus-japonicus.html
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Joanna Wolfe · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Panulirus interruptus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.