---
title: Red Reef Lobster (Enoplometopus occidentalis)
scientific_name: Enoplometopus occidentalis
common_name: Red Reef Lobster
taxon: Lobsters
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2026-08-07T11:51:31.093Z
updated: 2026-08-20T17:09:46.139Z
tags: Red Reef Lobster, Enoplometopus occidentalis, Lobsters, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/crustaceans/lobsters/red-reef-lobster
---

# Red Reef Lobster (*Enoplometopus occidentalis*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Lobsters (*Achelata*)
- **Size:** up to 10 cm
- **Depth:** 5-40 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Rare
- **Habitat:** Deep crevices and caves on the reef
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- bright orange-red with white spots
- true claws on the first pair of legs, unlike spiny lobsters
- small, under 10 cm
- hairy claws and long white antennae

A small lobster of about 10 cm (4 in), brilliant orange-red and marked with white spots, carrying true claws on the first pair of legs - the feature that separates it at a glance from the clawless spiny lobsters sharing the same reef. The claws are noticeably hairy, the antennae long and white, and the whole animal is colored for a place where red light does not reach.

It lives deep in crevices and caves from about 5 m to 40 m (16 to 130 ft), pressed so far back that daylight never touches it, and comes out only at night to pick over the rock for small invertebrates and carrion. Divers meet it by putting a torch into a hole rather than by finding it in the open, and even then usually see claws and antennae rather than a whole animal. That red coloring, which looks conspicuous under a torch beam, is effectively black at the depth it lives - a common solution among reef animals that never see the surface.

## Also known as

- **English:** red reef lobster, Hawaiian Red Lobster, Red Dwarf Reef Lobster
- **French:** Homard Occidental, Langoustine rouge
- **Italian:** Scampo del reef occidentale
- **Czech:** humřík červený
- **Japanese:** ショウグンエビ
- **Chinese:** 西方礁螯蝦
- **Russian:** Красный рифовый омар

## Scientific synonyms

- *Enoplometopus (Enoplometopus) occidentalis* (Randall, 1840)
- *Nephrops occidentalis* Randall, 1840

## Range

Indian Ocean, New Caledonian Exclusive Economic Zone, Republic of Mauritius, South Pacific Ocean

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