Slipper lobster

Lore & Background

Slipper lobsters have six segments in their heads and eight segments in the thorax, collectively covered in a thick carapace. The six abdominal segments each bear a pair of pleopods, while thoracic appendages are walking legs or maxillipeds. Their most conspicuous feature is the second pair of antennae, expanded and flattened into large plates extending horizontally forward from the head. They lack the giant neurones that allow other decapod crustaceans to perform tailflips, relying instead on burial in substrate and a heavily armoured exoskeleton to escape predators. After hatching, young slipper lobsters pass through around ten instars as phyllosoma larvae—leaf-like, planktonic zoeae—lasting the greater part of a year. The larva then moults into a 'nisto' stage that lasts a few weeks. Almost nothing is known about the transition from this stage to adults, which continue to grow through a series of moults.

Reader's Guide

Slipper lobsters are significant as a commercially fished group, though not as intensely as spiny or true lobsters. Fishing methods vary by species: those on soft substrates are often caught by trawling, while those in crevices and reefs are caught by scuba divers. Slipper lobsters are known by many common names, including 'shovel-nosed lobster', 'locust lobster', and in Australia, 'bugs' such as the Balmain bug and Moreton Bay bug.

Did You Know?

• Slipper lobsters lack the giant neurones that allow other decapod crustaceans to perform tailflips.
• The smallest species, Scyllarus pygmaeus, grows to a maximum total length of 55 mm.
• The largest species, Scyllarides haanii, may reach 50 cm in length.