Home › Animalia › Animalpedia › Crustaceans › European lobster
Presentation
The European lobster is a large decapod crustacean, iconic of Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. With a robust carapace and two powerful claws, it is one of the most prestigious seafood species and holds major economic importance for coastal fisheries.
The European lobster has an elongated body covered in a chitinous carapace ranging from brown to bluish, spotted with ochre marks. Its first two pairs of legs are transformed into impressive unequal claws, the left typically being more massive. Compound eyes are located at the base of long antennae.
Characteristics
Indicative values: they vary by subspecies, sex and region.
Habitat and distribution
The European lobster inhabits rocky, sandy, and muddy coastal waters of the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, from the surface to 100 meters deep, sometimes reaching 300 m. It prefers areas with cracks, rocks, and uneven bottoms where it can dig burrows and hide.
CURRENT RANGE
The European lobster is distributed along the Northeast Atlantic coasts from Norway to Mauritania, including the British Isles, France, Spain, and Portugal. It is also present in the Mediterranean, particularly around Italy and North Africa, though populations are less abundant there.
Behaviour
The European lobster is primarily nocturnal and solitary, hiding in burrows and rock crevices during the day. It is highly territorial and aggressive toward conspecifics, using its claws for combat. During mating, individuals establish complex dominance hierarchies.
Reproduction
The European lobster reaches sexual maturity between 5 and 7 years of age. After mating, the female lays several thousand eggs that she carries attached under her abdomen for several months. Larvae are released into open water and undergo multiple developmental stages before settling on the seafloor.
Peculiarities
The European lobster has the remarkable ability to regenerate its legs and antennae if lost or damaged. It can also autotomize a claw to escape a predator. Additionally, it contains copper in its blood (hemocyanin), which gives it a bluish tint, unlike the iron-based blood of vertebrates.
Threats and conservation
The European lobster faces overfishing, which has substantially reduced its natural stocks in some regions. It is also vulnerable to marine pollution, temperature changes, and coastal habitat destruction. Despite these pressures, its current status remains stable thanks to stock management and conservation measures.
Numbers and trends vary across sources and regions. See the IUCN assessment for the latest reference data.
Gallery
1 documented photographs.
References
UICN — Liste rouge des espèces menacées
Profile updated 08 August 2026 · Reviewed by the TunisieVet editorial team.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Least concern (LC)
IUCN source, latest published assessment.
Similar animals
Other species documented in Animalpedia.