Coral crayfish

About this species

Panulirus ornatus is a large spiny lobster with 11 larval stages.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Panulirus ornatus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 37 records
February: 29 records
March: 31 records
April: 32 records
May: 28 records
June: 33 records
July: 37 records
August: 24 records
September: 46 records
October: 38 records
November: 31 records
December: 29 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 17–167 m · Deepest record: 1,750 m

0–10 m: 1 records
10–20 m: 12 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 19 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 1 records
60–70 m: 5 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 12 records
110+ m: 9 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 5 records
22–24 °C: 5 records
24–26 °C: 6 records
26–28 °C: 24 records
28–30 °C: 48 records

Photos

(c) Nathan Mesnildrey, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Matt B, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lisa_James, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Daniel Montesinos, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Coral crayfish, Ornate crayfish, Ornate rock lobster, Ornate spiny crawfish, Ornate spiny lobster, Painted cray, coral crayfish, ornate crayfish, ornate rock lobster, ornate spiny crawfish, ornate spiny lobster, Ornate spiny lobster,, painted cray, painted crayfish, tropical rock lobster

Names in 8 more languages

German: Ornatlanguste, Schmuck-Languste, SchmuckLanguste
Spanish: langosta ornamentada
Filipino: banagan
French: grosse langouste porcelaine, Grosse langouste porcelaine (La), Langouste ornée (La), langouste ornée, Langouste-porcelaine
Indonesian: Lobster Mutiara
Japanese: nishi ki-ebi, ニシキエビ
Thai: kung mangkon
Simplified Chinese: 錦繡龍蝦

Other scientific names: Palinurus ornatus, Palinurus sulcatus, Senex ornatus

Similar species

Australian spiny lobster
Panulirus cygnus
Coral cray
Panulirus penicillatus
Banded spiny lobster
Panulirus marginatus
Marine crayfish
Panulirus versicolor
White-whiskered coral crayfish
Panulirus femoristriga
Scalloped spiny crawfish
Panulirus 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).
503 open-data records from 1798 to 2004.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.