Australian spiny lobster
Panulirus cygnus
- Usual depth4–6 m
- Best monthsMarch and December
- How commonCommon
Photo credit: (c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Panulirus cygnus is a species of spiny lobster, found off the west coast of Australia. Panulirus cygnus is the basis of Australia's most valuable fishery, making up 20% of value of Australia's total fishing industry, and is identified as the western rock lobster.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Panulirus cygnus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 24 records
- February: 25 records
- March: 48 records
- April: 22 records
- May: 14 records
- June: 7 records
- July: 16 records
- August: 15 records
- September: 22 records
- October: 17 records
- November: 23 records
- December: 50 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 4–6 m · Deepest record: 53 m
Photos
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Belinda Forbes, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Grady Duffy, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Belinda Forbes, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Peter Crowcroft, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Australian spiny lobster, Western Australian crayfish, Western cray, Western rock lobster, western cray, western rock lobster
Names in 4 more languages
- German
- Australische Languste
- Spanish
- langosta de Australia
- French
- Langouste australienne, langouste d'Australie
- Simplified Chinese
- 天鵝龍蝦
Similar species
Coral crayPanulirus penicillatus
Banded spiny lobsterPanulirus marginatus
Coral crayfishPanulirus ornatus
Marine crayfishPanulirus versicolor
White-whiskered coral crayfishPanulirus femoristriga
Scalloped spiny crawfishPanulirus homarus
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 62 open-data records from 1964 to 2023.
- Species data updated November 5, 2026.
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