''Scyllarides haanii'', the Aesop slipper lobster, is a marine decapod crustean in the family

Scyllaridae Slipper lobsters are a family (Scyllaridae) of about 90 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda clade Reptantia, found in all warm oceans and seas. They are not true lobsters, but are more closely related to spiny lobsters and furry lo ...

. Other common names include the humpbacked slipper lobster and the ridgeback slipper lobster.

Description

''Scyllarides haanii'' can grow to a maximum body length of but commonly range between in length. It is believed to be the largest of the ''

Scyllarides ''Scyllarides'' is a genus of slipper lobsters. Characteristics ''Scyllarides'' is placed in the subfamily Arctidinae, which is differentiated from other subfamilies by the presence of multiarticulated exopods on all three maxillipeds, and a ...

'' species. It is a solitary species that shelters during the day and forages at night, primarily on a diet of bivalves.

Distribution and habitat

''Scyllarides haanii'' is a wide-ranging

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

species but nowhere abundant, and uncommon in some places. It is native to the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region and known to occur in the eastern and western

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

and throughout the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It is likely its distribution is larger than indicated in population assessments from 2013 and earlier. ''Scyllarides haanii'' inhabits coral reefs and rocky bottoms in relatively warm coastal waters in winter to early spring, and migrates into deeper waters to breed. The species has been found at depths of .

Conservation

''Scyllarides haanii'' is subject to some targeted fisheries, and is also a frequent by-catch in

lobster fisheries Lobsters are widely fished around the world for their meat. They are often hard to catch in large numbers, but their large size can make them a profitable catch. Although the majority of the targeted species are tropical, the majority of the glob ...

, leading to some localized declines. However, due to its wide distribution and occurrence in at least one protection area where fishing is prohibited indefinitely, the species is currently classified as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6494770 Achelata Edible crustaceans Crustaceans described in 1841