noun

• A large edible crustacean with a spiny shell and long heavy antennae, but lacking the large claws of true lobsters.

  Family Palinuridae: several genera and species, in particular Palinuris vulgaris of European waters, and the American genus Panulirus

  ‘Without claws, spiny lobsters use their antennae to fend off predators.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The Norway lobster is a true lobster; but the spiny lobster, which exists in various species in tropical and subtropical waters around the world, is not.’
  • ‘The house specialties are in shellfish: Maine lobster, spiny lobster, dungeness crab, and live Santa Barbara sea urchin.’
  • ‘The spiny lobster and sand lobster totalling about 2,600 tonnes are caught annually from the inshore waters by mechanised and non-mechanised units.’
  • ‘There are a fair number of nudibranchs and flatworms, all brightly coloured and sometimes difficult to distinguish, featherstars, shrimps, spiny lobsters and other hole-dwelling critters.’
  • ‘During the past decade, however, evidence has accumulated that at least two marine animals, sea turtles and spiny lobsters, are able to derive positional information from the Earth's field.’
  • ‘Recent studies indicate that Caribbean spiny lobsters have an advanced magnetic compass sense that enables them to travel long distances in darkness to specific den locations.’
  • ‘These results provide strong evidence that spiny lobsters possess a magnetic positioning system that is capable of helping them navigate to specific geographic areas.’
  • ‘California spiny lobsters can be found along the rocky coastline of California, Baja California and the Channel Islands.’
  • ‘The Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, lives on hard bottoms and coral reefs throughout the waters of the Caribbean and the southeastern United States.’
  • ‘In the same way that a child's first week of violin lessons sends the family running for earplugs, so may the spiny lobster keep predators at bay, biologists say.’
  • ‘Follow the vertical wall on your left and it brings you round to a sheltered bay where nudibranchs and spiny lobsters are to be found.’
  • ‘White-spotted moray eels flashed their teeth, a lone hermit crab barrelled along and three young spiny lobsters displayed themselves daringly on a ledge.’
  • ‘Today we do not have live spiny lobsters in great abundance.’
  • ‘A night dive on the house reef revealed spiny lobsters and red crabs, morays, scorpionfish and lionfish.’
  • ‘Depending on their size, they are home to spiny lobsters, arrow crabs and a wide assortment of blennies.’
  • ‘It also has a taste for octopus, spiny lobster and crab.’
  • ‘There are spiny lobsters under most of the rocks, all with intact antennae.’
  • ‘The rocky reefs and the small caverns formed within them are home to groupers, moray and conger eels, scorpionfish, many octopuses and the occasional spiny lobster.’
  • ‘Also known as crayfish or spiny lobster, this is Australia's most valuable marine species.’