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Fish4Life provides everything you need to enjoy seafood responsibly. Explore information and practical tips for safe and sustainable seafood consumption, and help protect marine life by reporting undersized or illegally traded seafood.

European lobster
Homarus gammarus
Ευρωπαϊκός Αστακός

Sustainability Status

Highly exploited

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Help us protect our seas by reporting illegal or undersized fish that you see in markets, restaurants or fishing boats
Fishstocks – Declining due to overexploitation
Bad choice –Consumption of this species is unsustainable

Legal

Minimum Size

30cm (Total length) or 10.5cm (Carapace length) or 420gr

Prohibited Consumption Period

September – December

Sustainable

Minimum Size

30cm (Total length) or 10.5cm (Carapace length) or 420gr

Avoid Consumption Period

year round

Advice for Consumption

This species is heavily overexploited. Its consumption is therefore currently considered unsustainable until stocks recover.

Greek legislation does not provide an adequate closed season for this species, leaving both juvenile and breeding individuals unprotected.

If you do choose to consume this species, it is essential to respect the recommended minimum sustainable size, select larger, mature lobsters, and avoid consuming individuals caught during the breeding season. Choosing larger, mature lobsters helps reduce fishing pressure on juvenile individuals.

Archipelagos Tips

If you spot lobsters being sold during the closed season, undersized lobsters, or egg-bearing females being caught or sold during the breeding season, please report it to us.

Your observations help us monitor the extent of this problem.

Common names

FR

Homard

it

Astice

es

Bogavante europeo

tr

İstakoz

pt

Lavagante-europeu

nl

Europese zeekreeft

de

Europäischer Hummer

toxicity

This species is safe to consume.

iucn info

Least concern (LC)

Description

It has a blue-coloured back with coalescing spots and yellowish underbelly. The front legs carry massive (but slightly unequal) pincers which can be formidable and dangerous. The body lacks strong spines or ridges and has a rough exterior. Other identity keys include: Large eyes, the same width as eye stalks; Pine-like antennal scale; Rostrum rather short and spiny; Strong gastro-orbital groove and below it the cervical groove and large chelae.

It looks like Homarus americanus (American lobster) which has spines on the underside of its rostrum (a projection of the head) and red or red-tipped spines on its claws, while the European lobster lacks these spines on the rostrum and has white or white-tipped claw spines.

Did you know?

European lobsters have a fan of hair on their tails and legs, which act as finely tuned smell and taste receptors!

Ecological Aspects

Diet

Omnivorous or carnivorous. Feeds primarily on malacostracan crustaceans, gastropod mollusks, and polychaete annelids; however its diet is known to include carrion, echinoderms, lamellibranchs and plant matter.

habitat

Found on hard substrates such as rock or hard mud. They are territorial and live in holes or crevices.

Max size & depth range

Max length: 65 cm
Max weight: 6 kg
Depth range: 0-150 m, usually not deeper than 50 m

breeding & Growth

Females with eggs are usually found throughout the year. The eggs are laid around July and carried for 10 to 11 months. Coupling occurs a few days after the female molts.
Growth rate: Fast (k = 1yr⁻¹).

Longevity & presence

Lifespan: 31-54 years
Max reported age: 72 years
Distribution: Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea. In the Mediterranean they are more abundant along the north and west coast.

appearance changes

They undergo significant changes in appearance throughout its life cycle, primarily driven by growth (molting) and development from larva to adult.

Reproductive Cycle

They carry between 5,000 and 40,000 eggs at a time, depending on their size. They generally spawn only once every two years.
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If you’d like to learn more about the work of the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, please visit our website: https://archipelago.gr/

Good choice – Consumption of this species is currently considered sustainable

Illegal species – Fishing, selling and consumption of this species is illegal

Fishstocks – Declining due to overexploitation

Think before you eat – This species faces increasing pressures and should only be consumed responsibly

Bad choice – Consumption of this species is unsustainable

Health concerns –
Can accumulate dangerously high levels of toxic substances harmful to health

Alien / Invasive – This species is not from this region and can have a negative impact on the ecosystem and threaten local biodiversity, so it is sustainable to eat

Aquafarms – You will commonly find this species coming from aquafarms