![\"lobs-caribean\"](\"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/lobs-caribean.jpg\")
\nYes, we know you love to eat this delicious, tasty, highly-priced seafood dish. But we also know that you want to see them alive underwater during your underwater adventures in Costa Rica and want to learn more information about them.<\/p>\n
\nYes, we know you love to eat this delicious, tasty, highly-priced seafood dish. But we also know that you want to see them alive underwater during your underwater adventures in Costa Rica and want to learn more information about them.<\/p>\n
Descried as having long bodies with muscular tails, lobsters are large marine crustaceans having 10 pairs of walking legs, wherein three of which near the head are larger than the others and has claws. They specialize in thriving in cracks, crevices and sometimes in dark murky environments where they use their long antennae as sensors.<\/p>\n
In order to grow, lobsters must undergo a molting process which is the shedding of its old shell leaving them vulnerable to predation. If you happen to see a molting lobster, please do not touch it. Instead, try to observe it where you will be surprise to see its blue-colored blood. The reason behind this is not color absorption in water but due to the presence of hemocyanin which is similar to the blood of a horse-shoe crab.<\/p>\n
There are over 50 species of lobster found worldwide where Costa Rica has ten or more species. Since lobster are a sought-after seafood delicacy, they have significantly dwindled causing their population to shrink in number and size. Fishermen said that lobsters in the Pacific side has significantly become smaller in size. But in the Caribbean side, lobster size can still be considered at its optimum where the demand for this species is not that high.<\/p>\n
Here are some of the common lobster species that you can find in Costa Rica.<\/p>\n
Max. Length:<\/strong> 40 centimeters Photo courtesy from Uniprot<\/p><\/div>\n This type of spiny lobster has a wide range of habitat ranging from shallow rocky areas to the outer reef slopes and reef channels. Also called as the variegated crayfish and spined rock lobster, pronghorns differs from other lobster due to the presence of 3 large spiny antennae and the absence of pincers in their front legs. Although, they can grow up to 40 centimeters, their average length is at 30 centimeters with males having a bigger size compared. Another identifying mark for this type of lobster is the small white spots on the head and abdomen portion of the body. The legs are also colored dark green with red to yellow stripes.<\/p>\n Max. Length:<\/strong> 35 centimeters Photo courtesy from miraefnd.net<\/p><\/div>\n This medium-sized type of spiny lobsters is usually found in a rocky substrate at depths of 5 to 15 meters. To easily identify this species, you can examine directly the tail fan where it is usually colored green or brown.<\/p>\n Max. Length:<\/strong> 50 centimeters Photo courtesy from www.botany.hawaii.edu<\/p><\/div>\n The banded spiny lobster is one the larger species where the carapace alone can reach up to 12 inches long. In most instances, they hide in shallow reef crevices, but if disturbed, may go deeper to find a well-protected area.<\/p>\n Max. Length:<\/strong> 40 centimeters Photo courtesy from Chris Lee<\/p><\/div>\n This medium-sized species of spiny lobsters has been known to be masters of the deep. Usually found in the deeper parts of the reef like ledges and plateau, the painted spiny lobster has been reported to dive as deep as 900 meters where further studies are on the way to determine the reason. You can easily identify this lobster having a multi-colored body. The brightness and multi-color characteristics of this lobster is further enhanced in males during mating season to attract a female partner.<\/p>\n Max. Length:<\/strong> 45 centimeters Photo courtesy from Smithsonian Institute of Natural History<\/p><\/div>\n Found on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, this kind of spiny lobster are known to be migratory and gregarious where you often see them crawling in groups. Aside from hiding in rocks and huge crevices, one of their distinguishing characteristic occurs after mating. Females simultaneously walk in a single file, in the so called \u201cLobster March\u201d, where they travel from shallow to deeper waters to spawn.<\/p>\n If you wish to observe the Caribbean Spiny Lobster, then we suggest you go to Cahuita, Punta Uva and Manzanillo during the months of September and October. These months are considered the lobster season where you can find a good-sized population of lobster in this Caribbean Side of Costa Rica.<\/p>\n Wikipedia: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Panulirus_penicillatus<\/a> Yes, we know you love to eat this delicious, tasty, highly-priced seafood dish. But we also know that you want to see them alive underwater during your underwater adventures in Costa Rica and want...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":2211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scuba-diving","category-sea-life"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCommon Length:<\/strong> 30 centimeters
\nDepth Range:<\/strong> 3 \u2013 200 meters (10 \u2013 600 feet)
\nLocality:<\/strong> Pacific side
\nFrequency:<\/strong> Common, but vulnerable to overfishing (highly priced seafood)<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/panulirus-penicillatus-uniprot-300x199.jpg\")
Royal Spiny Lobster (Panulirus regius<\/em>)<\/h3>\n
\nCommon Length:<\/strong> 25 centimeters
\nDepth Range:<\/strong> 5 \u2013 40 meters (17 \u2013 130 feet)
\nLocality:<\/strong> Both Pacific and Caribbean Side
\nFrequency:<\/strong> Common, but vulnerable to overfishing (highly priced seafood)<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/p-regius-miraefnd-net-300x173.jpg\")
Banded Spiny Lobster (Panulirus marginatus<\/em>)<\/h3>\n
\nCommon Length:<\/strong> 40 centimeters
\nDepth Range:<\/strong> 3 \u2013 150 meters (10 \u2013 500 feet)
\nLocality:<\/strong> Pacific Side
\nFrequency:<\/strong> Common, but vulnerable to overfishing (highly priced seafood)<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/pan-marginatus-www-botany-hawaiiedu-300x239.jpg\")
Painted Spiny Lobster (Panulirus versicolor<\/em>)<\/h3>\n
\nCommon Length:<\/strong> 30 centimeters
\nDepth Range:<\/strong> 3 \u2013 900 meters (10 \u2013 3,000 feet)
\nLocality:<\/strong> Pacific Side
\nFrequency:<\/strong> Common, but vulnerable to overfishing (highly priced seafood)<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/p-versicolor-chris-lee-300x181.jpg\")
Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus<\/em>)<\/h3>\n
\nCommon Length:<\/strong> 20 centimeters
\nDepth Range:<\/strong> 3 \u2013 90 meters (10 \u2013 300 feet)
\nLocality:<\/strong> Caribbean Side
\nFrequency:<\/strong> Common, but vulnerable to overfishing (highly priced seafood)<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/scuba.cr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/p-argus-smithsonian-institute-of-natural-history-300x199.jpg\")
References<\/h2>\n
\nSealifebase: http:\/\/www.sealifebase.org\/summary\/Panulirus-regius.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"