California Spiny Lobster

The California  Spiny Lobster (Panulirus interruptus) is a specie of the spiny lobster found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Monterey Bay, California and to the Gulf of Tehuantepec in Mexico. It usually grows to a length of 30 centimeters (12 inches). It is reddish-brown. It displays stripes along it's legs. It has a pair of large antennae and doesn't have any claws.

The female California spiny lobsters can carry up to 680,000 eggs. They hatch after 10 weeks and they come out as flat phyllosoma larvae. They eat plankton. The adults are nocturnal  and migratory and they live among rocks at depths up to 65 meters (213 feet). They feed on sea urchins, clams, mussels, and worms. Various types of fish enjoy eating the California spiny lobsters. Fish of many types, octopuses, and sea otters are the California spiny lobster's predators. 

Like all spiny lobsters the California spiny lobster has a pair of enlarged antennae but do not have claws. The California spiny lobsters are one of the biggest spiny lobsters.They grow up to 60 centimeters (24 inches) long. Males can weigh 12 kilograms (26 pounds). Unlike other spiny lobsters they have a reddish-brown top and doesn't show the paler bands or white spots. Mature female have a small claw on the last pereiopod the fifth one and has enlarged pleopods.

The California spiny lobster are found in some areas in the Gulf of California, and along the Pacific Coast of the length of the Baja California Peninsula that extends as far north as San Luis Obispo Bay, California. They live on rocky substrates at depths up to 65 meters ( 213 feet) or you could find them in shallow water including tide pools. They are more often in deeper water.

The California spiny lobster is nocturnal so at day they sleep and hide from predators while at night the feed on sea urchins, clams, mussels, and worms. It's predators include the California sheephead, giant sea bass, the cabezone, and sharks including the horn shark and leopard shark, and other animals like octopuses and sea otters. The California sheephead is a major predator to the California spiny lobster.