Warm Water Lobster

What are warm water lobsters?

Warm water lobsters are found in warm waters of the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and the coast of Asia.  They have a tail and a “head” (carapace) that looks similar to those of a cold water lobster, but warm water lobsters do not have claws, and instead have long spiny antennae.  The only edible meat in a warm water lobster is found in the lobster’s tail.

Warm water lobsters are sometimes called spiny lobsters or rock lobsters, and since they are less expensive that the more desirable cold water lobster (the classic “Maine lobster”) their tails are often frozen and served simply as “lobster tail.”  If you ever had a tough “lobster tail” served at a hotel banquet or on a mass market cruise ship, perhaps as part of a “Surf-and-Turf” platter, it was almost certainly the frozen tail of a warm water lobster, most probably a Caribbean lobster from the Bahamas or Honduras.

While often referred to as “lobster,” warm water lobsters are not closely related to the cold water Maine lobster.  For example, while the warm water Spiny lobster and the cold water Maine lobster are both crustaceans and decapods, they are from of different genus, family, and species:

Maine Lobster (Homarus americanus)

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Crustacea
Order Decapoda
Suborder Macrura Reptantia
Superfamily Nephropoidea
Family Nephropidae
Subfamily Nephropinae
Genus Homarus
Species Homarus americanus

Caribbean Spiny lobster (Panulirus argus)

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Crustacea
Order Decapoda
Suborder Macrura Reptantia
Superfamily Palinuroidea
Family Palinuridae
Genus Panulirus
Species Panulirus argus