European Spiny Lobster (Palinurus elephas)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > crustacean > Crustacean |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Palinurus elephas |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Fabricius, 1787) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Facing population declines due to overfishing as well as impacts from declining water quality and climate change. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | The recovery of this species is likely to largely depend on a reduction of fishing practises throughout their known range as well as consistent efforts to help improve water quality within their homeranges. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Yes, implementation and appropriate management of new marine protection zones, could help improve water quality of the UK's coastal waters as well as ensuring over fishing pressures are mitigated. |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.