---
title: Pronghorn Spiny Lobster (Panulirus penicillatus)
scientific_name: Panulirus penicillatus
common_name: Pronghorn Spiny Lobster
taxon: Lobsters
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2026-08-07T11:51:31.067Z
updated: 2026-08-20T17:09:46.125Z
tags: Pronghorn Spiny Lobster, Panulirus penicillatus, Lobsters, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/crustaceans/lobsters/pronghorn-spiny-lobster
---

# Pronghorn Spiny Lobster (*Panulirus penicillatus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Lobsters (*Achelata*)
- **Size:** up to 40 cm
- **Depth:** 0-20 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Surge-swept reef fronts, in caves and under ledges
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- long banded antennae, thicker than the legs, waving from a hole
- no claws on any leg
- dark green to almost black body with pale leg stripes
- length up to 40 cm

A heavy spiny lobster to about 40 cm (16 in), dark green through nearly black, with white or cream stripes running down the legs and a pair of antennae longer than the body. There are no claws on any leg - the whole defense is armour, spines and the ability to reverse into a hole faster than a hand can follow, backed by a rasping file at the base of each antenna that produces a sound audible underwater.

It occupies the surge-swept front of the reef, from the shallows to about 20 m (65 ft), wedged in caves and under ledges through the day with only antennae showing, and coming out at night to hunt snails, urchins and carrion across the rock. Of all the spiny lobsters this is the one that favors rough water, which is why it turns up on exposed outer walls rather than in sheltered bays. Larvae drift as flat, transparent phyllosoma for months before settling, a stage so unlike the adult that it was described as a separate animal for a century. Fishing pressure keeps numbers down near settlements, so the big animals are on reefs that are awkward to reach.

## Also known as

- **English:** coral cray, Pronghorn Spiny Lobster, double spined rock lobster, golden rock lobster
- **French:** grosses têtes, Langouste grosse-tête, langouste fourchette, vraie tangouste verte
- **Italian:** Aragosta penicillata
- **German:** Rifflanguste
- **Spanish:** langosta de Isla socorro, Langosta de Revillagigedo, langosta horquilla, langosta roja
- **Portuguese:** langosta cornuda, Lagosta-de-Revillagigedo
- **Czech:** langusta hrotorohá
- **Japanese:** shima ise-ebi, シマイセエビ
- **Chinese:** 密毛龍蝦
- **Russian:** Колючий лангуст пеницилловый
- **FIJ:** uraukuta, urauvatuvatu
- **ID:** udang barong
- **KO:** 가지뿔닭새우
- **TAH:** oura-miti
- **TGL:** banagan
- **TH:** kung king kong, kung mangkon, กุ้งมังกรคิงคอง
- **VI:** tôm hum

## Scientific synonyms

- *Astacus penicillatus* Olivier, 1791
- *Cancer theresae* Curtiss, 1938
- *Palinurus Ehrenbergi* Heller, 1861
- *Palinurus Gigas* Bosc, 1801
- *Palinurus penicillatus* (Olivier, 1791)

## Range

East Africa, East Pacific, Eritrea, FAO fishing area 51, FAO fishing area 57, FAO fishing area 61, FAO fishing area 71, FAO fishing area 77, FAO fishing area 87, Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Mozambique, Mozambique Channel, New Caledonian Exclusive Economic Zone, North Pacific Ocean, Red Sea, Samoa, Seychelles, South Africa, South East Africa, South Pacific Ocean, Tanzania, Tuamotu Islands, West American coast

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/crustaceans/lobsters/pronghorn-spiny-lobster)*
*Updated: August 20, 2026*