A large spiny lobster of eastern Pacific reef, in crevices by day with only the antennae showing.
To about 40 cm total length, typically 30, with males larger than females. Colour runs yellowish-green to rusty brown or bluish-black, with white spots and dark legs carrying yellow lengthwise stripes.
The blue spiny lobster is the pair, and the antennal plate rather than colour is what separates them.
The sources disagree on depth, one giving under four metres and another one to sixteen; both describe a surge-zone and outer-slope animal. It forages at night and stays in a crevice by day.
Listed as Least Concern but heavily exploited throughout its range.
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.
