A spiny lobster of eastern Pacific rock, blue-green with pale bands, in crevices by day and out at night.
Carapace to about 12 cm; the smallest egg-bearing females are around 6 cm. A greenish body with pale spots.
It co-occurs with the Pacific spiny lobster. Colour and habitat are cues — that species holds the exposed surge zone — but the reliable separator is the arrangement of spines on the plate between the antennae, so colour alone is not safe.
One to over thirty metres on rock and gravel. Densities of four to five per hectare recorded in Panama indicate heavy overfishing.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
