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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.

Common spiny lobster
Palinurus elephas
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

9cm (Carapace length) or 420gr

Prohibited Consumption Period

September – December

Sustainable

Minimum Size

10cm (Carapace length)

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

Langouste

it

Aragosta

es

Langosta

tr

Böcek

pt

Lagosta

nl

Langoest

de

Europaische Languste

toxicity

This species is safe to consume.

iucn info

Vulnerable (VU)

Description

Large, reddish-brown crustacean but can also be light brown or purple. Its outer shell is covered with forward-directed spines. Its antennal stalks are very heavy and spiny. There are two large symmetrical white blotches on the upper dorsal plates, a single central blotch on the last segment and two blotches on the tail fam. It has small hook-like claws.

It looks like Palinurus mauritanicus (Pink spiny lobster) with a similar body shape and belong to the same genus. However, Palinurus mauritanicus is typically found in deeper waters and has a more reddish-pink coloration.

Did you know?

Once hatched, Common spiny lobster eggs look like flat, leaf‑shaped plankton!

Ecological Aspects

Diet

Omnivorous.
Feeds on mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms.

habitat

Benthic.
Occurs on rocky bottoms and coralligenous areas with lots of holes and micro-caves.

Max size & depth range

Max length: 60 cm
Max weight: 8 kg
Depth range: 5-400 m

breeding & Growth

Gonochoric (seperate sexes).
Breeds between June through October.
Growth rate: Slow-moderate (k = 0.20yr⁻¹).

Longevity & presence

Lifespan: 21-50 years
Max reported age: 60 years
Distribution: Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic.

appearance changes

Juveniles and adults must shed their rigid outer shell to grow. Before a molt, a new, soft exoskeleton forms underneath. Immediately after molting, the lobster appears swollen, extremely soft, and vulnerable, gradually hardening its new shell over the following days. Once mature, males and females begin to look physically distinct. Females develop a noticeably wider abdomen (tail) to carry eggs and specialized setae (hair-like structures) on their pleopods, whereas males grow longer, heavier legs and a broader cephalothorax (head and thorax).

Reproductive Cycle

Egg count: 23,000-202,000 eggs
Reproductive frequency: once annually within breeding season.
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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