Lobster

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Palinuridae
Caribbean lobster (Palinurus argus)

Caribbean lobster ( Palinurus argus )

Systematics
Over trunk : Molting animals (Ecdysozoa)
Trunk : Arthropod (arthropoda)
Class : Higher crabs (Malacostraca)
Order : Decapods (decapoda)
Partial order : Achelata
Family : Palinuridae
Scientific name
Palinuridae
Latreille , 1802

The lobsters (Palinuridae) form a family within the order of the decapods (Decapoda).

Appearance

While the Hummer with its powerful tail and two large scissors to crayfish resemble lobsters have no claws. What is striking about them, however, is the long antennae . Lobsters can grow up to 50 cm in length, but are usually much smaller.

Lobsters have a rather cylindrical carapace , the eye stalks are in rather incomplete sockets. Both pairs of antennae have relatively long flagella, the second pair of antennae lacks the exopodite , the so-called scaphocerite. Females can show subchelae on their fifth pair of striding legs , males always have no claws. The first pair of swimming legs is missing in both sexes. The telson is almost rectangular. The bodies of the lobsters are usually noticeably colored.

distribution and habitat

The lobsters, also known as "knight crabs", inhabit rocky coastal zones. The common lobster ( Palinurus elephas ) lives in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean .

In the larval stage, it belongs to the free-floating plankton . Only after the larval stage do the crabs settle, live in rocky areas and use rock cavities and niches as hiding places. It takes about 2.5 years for a lobster to be caught.

Culinary importance

Panulirus penicillatus and the ornamental lobster ( Panulirus ornatus ) are particularly popular . Both reach sizes from 30 to 45 cm (without antennas) and a maximum weight of 5 kg.

The strong tail of the live lobster must always be slightly curved. Lobsters with their tails stretched out are no longer edible, even when cooked. The meat of the lobster is usually drier than that of the lobster . When cooked, the lobster turns red due to the release of astaxanthin from the greenish chromoprotein. The offered commercially "lobster tails" comes in part not from the lobster, but the lobster , which in turn referred to in France as "langoustine".

Systematics

Together with the slippery lobsters, the lobsters form the Achelata . They differ from them mainly in the morphology of the antennae. The second pair of antennae of the slippery lobster is strongly shortened and shovel-shaped.

The lobster family consists of 18 genera with a total of 55 recent and 56 fossil known species. The lobsters also include the genera Palinurellus and Palibythus, which were formerly part of the furry lobster family .

literature

  • Schuhmacher / Hinterkircher: Lower marine animals. BLV, Munich, 2002 edition, ISBN 3-405-14854-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfred Kaestner: Textbook of Special Zoology . Ed .: Hans-Eckhard Gruner. 4th edition. tape 1 : invertebrates; 4th part: Arthropoda (without Insecta). Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena Stuttgart New York 1993, ISBN 3-334-60404-7 , p. 999 f .
  2. ↑ Sammy De Grave, N. Dean Pentcheff, Shane T. Ahyong et al .: A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans . In: Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . Supplement No. 21. 2009, p. 1–109 ( pdf 7.73Mb [accessed March 14, 2012]).

Web links

Commons : Lobsters (Palinuridae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files