Lobster types

[Dectek]

In the northeast we have the Maine Lobster with the Claws and I have seen Caribbean lobster without claws. I understand that down around Florida the Spiney Lobsters also are clawless.
When you travel down the East coast....at what point do you start seeing a mix or change of the species?.


Part two: Is this the only area where you sea lobster with claws? apparently the west coast has clawless also.

 

[O-ring]

...North Carolina has spiny lobsters... I think the change is somewhere around Delaware or somewhere in New England...not sure though.

 

[Rec2Tek]

I have captured clawed ones as far south as Virginia Beach but they are few and far between. The clawed ones need colder water to survive. Good Hunting!

 

[O-ring]

Rec2Tek once bubbled...
I have captured clawed ones as far south as Virginia Beach but they are few and far between. The clawed ones need colder water to survive. Good Hunting!

...we do get the clawed ones in va beach...but NCs are spiny...maybe VA/NC is the cutoff?

 

[FredT]

There are reliable reports of LARGE maine type bugs as far south as Palm Beach, Fla. These are typically found deep out past the 200 meter depth contour. The report I'm most familiar with involved an ROV sighting a Maine bug estimated at well over 40 pounds off Port Everglades. I expect it took him a while to walk that far south.

Check the currents to determine survival temp. There is an eddy of the cold Labrador Current that comes as far south as Hatteras. That water is cold enough to keep the Maine bugs alive. South of Hatteras the Gulf stream washes the continental shelf with water too warm to allow them to survive. Deeper water is cold enough to allow migration, but does not have the nutrient levels needed for the cold water bugs to breed.

FT

 

[King Kong Matt]

http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/factsheets/fslobster.html

There is a section on Fisheries - that tends to make you think that while the lobsters are certainly found farther south where you guys are talking about, they stop appearing in any decent concentration (that would make commerical fishing worthwhile at least) around New England.

Just anecdotally...from Boston, its a 45 min drive to dive in Cape Ann and a little over an hour to dive in R.I.

I have seen WAY fewer lobsters (and crabs for that matter) in R.I. than in Mass. I think (I do not know) that Cape Cod, which basically separates the Labrador current of the north from the Gulf Stream of the south really seems to create two different ecologies.

Again, Im not a marine biologist and I don;t play one on TV, but MA and RI diving seem to be VERY different to me.

 

[Spectre]

Yea, the American Lobster (Homarus americanus) Range expands from Canada down to Virginia. The males and juveniles will go a little farther [e.g. into a little warmer waters] than the adult femals (why is still being researched).

There are a few different spiny lobsters, the Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus) and the Florida Spiny Lobster (Panulirus guttatus), as well as the California Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Interruptus).

I believe there is a cousin to the American Lobster out in Europe. Also clawed, but lacking the crusher claws of the american lobster.

 

[Walter]

"I have seen Caribbean lobster without claws. I understand that down around Florida the Spiney Lobsters also are clawless."

While several species live in the area, you'll find the same lobsters in Florida that you find in the Caribbean. Spiney lobster are probably the lobsters to which you refer. You'll also find Spanish lobster which are similar to Spiney lobster, but are smaller and have more spots. There are also more than one type of slipper lobster in the area. The lobsters on the Sea of Cortez and in California look very much like the Spiney lobster of Florida, although the coloring is different.

 

[notabob]

King Kong Matt once bubbled...
...Im not a marine biologist and I don;t play one on TV, but MA and RI diving seem to be VERY different to me.

But you did stay at the Holiday Inn Express last night...

 

[scuberd]

The pacific spiny lobster is clawless and lives around Baja mexico, but they are found northward into southern california, I even saw one once in Monterey, but that was the extreme end of their range. so I'm told =-)