Rock Slipper Lobster, Scyllarides astori
Rock Slipper Lobster, Scyllarides astori. Lobster provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, January 2011. Length: 38 cm (15 inches).
Rock Slipper Lobster, Scyllarides astori
Phylogeny: The Rock Slipper Lobster, Scyllarides astori (Holthuis, 1960), a member of the Scyllaridae family of Slipper Lobsters. The genus Scyllarides is one of nineteen genera in this family, and there are fourteen species in this genus. They are also known as the Galapagos Slipper Lobster and in Mexico as Langosta Cigarra de Las Galapagos and Langosta Pantufla de Roca.
Morphology: Rock Slipper Lobsters are rectangular or oblong in outline and are strongly flattened dorso-ventrally. Their exoskeleton is thick and strong. The margins and dorsal surface of the carapace are fairly smooth. They have five pairs of appendages that function as legs (pereiopods). They also have three pairs of appendages that function as mouth parts (maxillipeds). They have six pairs of biramous (dividing to form two branches) appendages along their abdomen. The first five pairs function as swimmerets (pleopods). The last pair is flattened to form a tail fan. Rock Slipper Lobsters have two pairs of antennae. One small pair is used for sensing the environment. The other pair are like large, armored plates. They are tan to brown in color, usually with numerous reddish specks or spots. Rock Slipper Lobsters reach a maximum of 45 cm (18 inches) in length.
Habitat and Distribution: Rock Slipper Lobsters are found on rock or coral reefs, often near sand and frequently in overhangs and crevasses. They are found at a depths between 12 m (40 feet) and 90 m (300 feet). Rock Slipper Lobsters are a tropical Eastern Pacific species that in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean have have a discontinuous range being found in the central and southern Sea of Cortez from from Cabo San Miguel, Baja California to the greater Cabo San Lucas area, Baja California Sur, and along the mainland in the southern Jalisco and northern Colima area. They are also found around the Revillagigedos and Tres Marias Islands.
Diet: Rock Slipper Lobsters are opportunistic omnivores that consume crustaceans, detritus, mollusks, polychaetes, and the Low-lying Sea Urchin, Tripneustes depressus.
Predators: Rock Slipper Lobsters are primarily preyed upon by fish including Finescale Tirggerfish, Gulf Grouper, Mycteroperca jordani, Mexican Hogfish, Bodianus diplotaenia, and the Pacific Goliath Grouper, Epinephelus quinquefasciatus, as well as the Panamic Cushion Star, Pentaceraster cumingi.
Reproduction: Rock Slipper Lobsters are gonochoric (male or female for life). They reproduce sexually, with external fertilization. During mating the male attaches a sperm packet (spermatophore) to the abdomen of a female. The females releases tens, to hundreds, of thousands of eggs, which are fertilized by the spermatophore. The female carries the fertilized eggs on her underside for two to eight weeks before releasing them over several days. The eggs hatch into planktonic larvae. After several months the larvae settle to the bottom substrate to begin their benthic life. Less than one of one thousand larvae survive to adulthood.
Ecosystem Interactions: Rock Slipper Lobsters are known to host bryozoans as epibionts and cirripede barnacles. Otherwise, there is very little documentation of commensal, parasitic, or symbiotic relationships for this species.
Human Interactions: Rock Slipper Lobsters are edible but historically were not fished commercially. Over fishing of spiny lobsters and sea cucumbers have caused commercial fisheries to now target Rock Slipper Lobsters. They are caught primarily via hookah divers and utilized for local consumption or exported. The Rock Slipper Lobster are not regulated and catch levels are not maintained. From a conservation perspective they have not been formally evaluated and are data deficient.
Synonyms: None.