Norway lobster
Encyclopedia
Nephrops norvegicus, known variously as the Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn, (compare langostino
) or scampi
, is a slim, orange-pink lobster
which grows up to 25 cm (10 in) long, and is "the most important commercial crustacean in Europe". It is now the only extant species in the genus Nephrops
, after several other species were moved to the closely related genus Metanephrops
. It lives in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean
, and parts of the Mediterranean Sea
, but is absent from the Baltic Sea
and Black Sea
. Adults emerge from their burrow
s at night to feed on worm
s and fish
.
, albeit narrower than the large Homarus
species. It is pale orange in colour, and grows to a typical length of 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 ), or exceptionally 25 cm (10 in) long, including the tail and claw
s. A carapace
covers the animal's cephalothorax
, while the abdomen is long and segmented, ending in a broad tail fan. The first three pairs of legs bear claws, of which the first are greatly elongated and bear ridges of spines
. Of the two pairs of antennae
, the second is the longer and thinner. There is a long, spinous rostrum
, and the compound eyes are kidney
-shaped, providing the name of the genus, from the Greek
roots
(nephros, "kidney") and ops ("eye").
and North Sea
as far north as Iceland
and northern Norway
, and south to Portugal
. It is not common in the Mediterranean Sea
except in the Adriatic Sea
, notably the north Adriatic. It is absent from both the Black Sea
and the Baltic Sea
. Due to its ecological demands for particular sediments, N. norvegicus has a very patchy distribution, and is divided into over 30 populations. These populations are separated by inhospitable terrain, and adults rarely travel distances greater than a few hundred metres.
s are semi-permanent, and vary in structure and size. Typical burrows are 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 11.8 ) deep, with a distance of 50 to 80 cm (19.7 to 31.5 ) between the front and back entrances. Norway lobsters spend most of their time either lying in their burrows or by the entrance, only leaving their shelters to forage or mate.
and predator that makes short foraging excursions, mainly during periods of subdued light. They feed on active prey, including worm
s and fish
, which they capture with their chelipeds and walking legs, and food is conveyed to the mouth using the anterior walking legs, assisted by the maxillipeds.
to a number of parasites
and symbionts
. A number of sessile
organisms attach to the exoskeleton
of N. norvegicus, including the barnacle
Balanus crenatus
and the foraminifera
n Cyclogyra, but overall Nephrops suffers fewer infestations of such epibiont
s than other decapod crustaceans do. In December 1995, the commensal
Symbion pandora
was discovered attached to the mouthparts of Nephrops norvegicus, and was found to be the first member of a new phylum
, Cycliophora
, a finding described by Simon Conway Morris
as "the zoological highlight of the decade". S. pandora has been found in many populations of N. norvegicus, both in the north Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea. Individuals may be found on most segments of the lobster's mouthparts, but are generally concentrated on the central parts of the larger mouthparts, from the mandible to the third maxilliped.
The most significant parasite of N. norvegicus is a dinoflagellate
of the genus Hematodinium
, which has caused epidemic
infection in fished populations of N. norvegicus since the 1980s. Hematodinium is a genus that contains major pathogens of a wide variety of decapod crustaceans, although its internal taxonomy is poorly resolved. The species which attacks N. norvegicus causes a syndrome
originally described as "post-moult syndrome", in which the carapace
turns opaque and becomes highly pigmented, the haemolymph
becomes milky white, and the animal appears moribund. Other parasites of N. norvegicus include the gregarine protozoa
n Porospora nephropis, the trematode
Stichocotyle nephropis and the polychaete
Histriobdella homari.
of N. norvegicus is 5–10 years, reaching 15 years in exceptional cases. Its reproductive cycle varies depending on geographical position: "the periods of hatching and spawning, and the length of the incubation period, vary with latitude and the breeding cycle changes from annual to biennial as one moves from south to north". Incubation of eggs is temperature
-dependent, and in colder climates, the duration of the incubation period increases. This means that, by the time hatching occurs, it may be too late for the females to take part in that year's breeding cycle. In warmer climates, the combined effects of recovery from moulting
and ovary maturation mean that spawning can become delayed. This, in turn, has the effect of the female missing out a year of egg carrying.
Adult male Nephrops norvegicus moult
once or twice a year (usually in late winter or spring) and adult females moult up to once a year (in late winter or spring, after hatching of the eggs). In annual breeding cycles, mating takes place in the spring or winter, when the females are in the soft, post-moult state. The ovaries mature throughout the summer and spring months, and egg-laying takes place in early autumn or late summer. After spawning, the berried (egg-carrying) females return to their burrows and remain there until the end of the incubation period. Hatching takes place in early spring or late winter. Soon after hatching, the females moult and mate again.
. N. norvegicus is eaten only on special occasions in Spain
and Portugal, where it is less expensive than the common lobster, Homarus gammarus. N. norvegicus is an important species for fisheries
, being caught mostly by trawling
. Around 60,000 tonne
s are caught annually, half of it in the United Kingdom
's waters
.
Discards from Nephrops fishery may account for up to 37% of the energy requirements
of certain marine scavenger
s, such as the hagfish
Myxine glutinosa. Boats involved in Nephrops fishery also catch a number of fish species such as plaice
and sole
, and it is thought that without that revenue, Nephrops fishery would be economically unviable.
of , the starting point for zoological nomenclature. In that work, it was listed as , with a type locality of ("in the Norwegian sea"). In choosing a lectotype
, Lipke Holthuis
restricted the type locality to the Kattegat
at the Kullen Peninsula
in southern Sweden
. Two synonyms
of the species have been published – "Astacus rugosus", described by the eccentric zoologist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1814 from material collected in the Mediterranean Sea
, and "Nephropsis cornubiensis", described by Charles Spence Bate
and Joshua Brooking Rowe in 1880.
As new genera were erected, the species was moved, reaching its current position in 1814, when William Elford Leach
erected the genus Nephrops
to hold this species alone. Seven fossil
species have since been described in the genus.
Populations in the Mediterranean Sea
are sometimes separated as "Nephrops norvegicus var. meridionalis Zariquiey, 1935", although this taxon is not universally considered valid.
Langostino
Langostino is a Spanish word with different meanings in different areas. In America, it is commonly used in the restaurant trade to refer to the meat of the squat lobster, which is neither a true lobster nor a prawn. It is more closely related to porcelain crabs and hermit crabs. Crustaceans...
) or scampi
Scampi
Scampi is the term for a particular type of lobster, deriving originally from the Greek word κάμπη 'kampē' meaning a 'bending' or 'winding'. The name is sometimes used loosely to describe a style of preparation typically for seafood, and as a culinary name for some species of crustacean...
, is a slim, orange-pink lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
which grows up to 25 cm (10 in) long, and is "the most important commercial crustacean in Europe". It is now the only extant species in the genus Nephrops
Nephrops
Nephrops is a genus of lobsters comprising a single extant species, Nephrops norvegicus , and several fossil species. It was erected by William Elford Leach in 1814, to accommodate N...
, after several other species were moved to the closely related genus Metanephrops
Metanephrops
Metanephrops is a genus of lobsters, commonly known as scampi. Important species for fishery include Metanephrops australiensis and Metanephrops challengeri...
. It lives in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, and parts of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, but is absent from the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
and Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. Adults emerge from their burrow
Burrow
A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the...
s at night to feed on worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s and fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
.
Description
Nephrops norvegicus has the typical body shape of a lobsterLobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
, albeit narrower than the large Homarus
Homarus
Homarus is a genus of lobsters, which include the common and commercially significant species Homarus americanus and Homarus gammarus . The Cape lobster, which was formerly in this genus as H...
species. It is pale orange in colour, and grows to a typical length of 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 ), or exceptionally 25 cm (10 in) long, including the tail and claw
Claw
A claw is a curved, pointed appendage, found at the end of a toe or finger in most mammals, birds, and some reptiles. However, the word "claw" is also often used in reference to an invertebrate. Somewhat similar fine hooked structures are found in arthropods such as beetles and spiders, at the end...
s. A carapace
Carapace
A carapace is a dorsal section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron.-Crustaceans:In crustaceans, the...
covers the animal's cephalothorax
Cephalothorax
The cephalothorax is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. The word cephalothorax is derived from the Greek words for head and thorax...
, while the abdomen is long and segmented, ending in a broad tail fan. The first three pairs of legs bear claws, of which the first are greatly elongated and bear ridges of spines
Spine (zoology)
A spine is a hard, thorny or needle-like structure which occurs on various animals. Animals such as porcupines and sea urchins grow spines as a self-defense mechanism. Spines are often formed of keratin...
. Of the two pairs of antennae
Antenna (biology)
Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
, the second is the longer and thinner. There is a long, spinous rostrum
Rostrum (anatomy)
The term rostrum is used for a number of unrelated structures in different groups of animals:*In crustaceans, the rostrum is the forward extension of the carapace in front of the eyes....
, and the compound eyes are kidney
Kidney
The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
-shaped, providing the name of the genus, from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
roots
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
(nephros, "kidney") and ops ("eye").
Distribution
Nephrops norvegicus is found in the north-eastern Atlantic OceanAtlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
as far north as Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and northern Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and south to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. It is not common in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
except in the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
, notably the north Adriatic. It is absent from both the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
and the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. Due to its ecological demands for particular sediments, N. norvegicus has a very patchy distribution, and is divided into over 30 populations. These populations are separated by inhospitable terrain, and adults rarely travel distances greater than a few hundred metres.
Ecology
Nephrops norvegicus adults prefer to inhabit muddy seabed sediments, with more than 40 percent silt and clay. Their burrowBurrow
A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the...
s are semi-permanent, and vary in structure and size. Typical burrows are 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 11.8 ) deep, with a distance of 50 to 80 cm (19.7 to 31.5 ) between the front and back entrances. Norway lobsters spend most of their time either lying in their burrows or by the entrance, only leaving their shelters to forage or mate.
Diet
Nephrops norvegicus is a scavengerScavenger
Scavenging is both a carnivorous and herbivorous feeding behavior in which individual scavengers search out dead animal and dead plant biomass on which to feed. The eating of carrion from the same species is referred to as cannibalism. Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by...
and predator that makes short foraging excursions, mainly during periods of subdued light. They feed on active prey, including worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s and fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, which they capture with their chelipeds and walking legs, and food is conveyed to the mouth using the anterior walking legs, assisted by the maxillipeds.
Parasites and symbionts
Nephrops norvegicus is the hostHost (biology)
In biology, a host is an organism that harbors a parasite, or a mutual or commensal symbiont, typically providing nourishment and shelter. In botany, a host plant is one that supplies food resources and substrate for certain insects or other fauna...
to a number of parasites
Parasitism
Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...
and symbionts
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
. A number of sessile
Sessility (zoology)
In zoology, sessility is a characteristic of animals which are not able to move about. They are usually permanently attached to a solid substrate of some kind, such as a part of a plant or dead tree trunk, a rock, or the hull of a ship in the case of barnacles. Corals lay down their own...
organisms attach to the exoskeleton
Exoskeleton
An exoskeleton is the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal skeleton of, for example, a human. In popular usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as "shells". Examples of exoskeleton animals include insects such as grasshoppers...
of N. norvegicus, including the barnacle
Barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile suspension feeders, and have...
Balanus crenatus
Balanus crenatus
Balanus crenatus is a species of acorn barnacle in the Balanidae family. It is found in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
and the foraminifera
Foraminifera
The Foraminifera , or forams for short, are a large group of amoeboid protists which are among the commonest plankton species. They have reticulating pseudopods, fine strands of cytoplasm that branch and merge to form a dynamic net...
n Cyclogyra, but overall Nephrops suffers fewer infestations of such epibiont
Epibiont
An epibiont is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism. An epibiont is usually considered harmless to the host; in this sense, the relationship between the two organisms can be considered neutralistic or commensalistic. Typical epibionts are barnacles, remoras, and algae,...
s than other decapod crustaceans do. In December 1995, the commensal
Commensalism
In ecology, commensalism is a class of relationship between two organisms where one organism benefits but the other is neutral...
Symbion pandora
Symbion pandora
Symbion pandora is a jug-shaped microscopic aquatic animal that dwells on the mouth-parts of Norway lobsters.The animals are less than ½ mm wide, with sac-like bodies, and three distinctly different forms in different parts of their two-stage life-cycle....
was discovered attached to the mouthparts of Nephrops norvegicus, and was found to be the first member of a new phylum
Phylum
In biology, a phylum The term was coined by Georges Cuvier from Greek φῦλον phylon, "race, stock," related to φυλή phyle, "tribe, clan." is a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. "Phylum" is equivalent to the botanical term division....
, Cycliophora
Symbion
Symbion is the name of a genus of aquatic animals, less than ½ mm wide, found living attached to the bodies of cold-water lobsters. They have sac-like bodies, and three distinctly different forms in different parts of their two-stage life-cycle...
, a finding described by Simon Conway Morris
Simon Conway Morris
Simon Conway Morris FRS is an English paleontologist made known by his detailed and careful study of the Burgess Shale fossils, an exploit celebrated in Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould...
as "the zoological highlight of the decade". S. pandora has been found in many populations of N. norvegicus, both in the north Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea. Individuals may be found on most segments of the lobster's mouthparts, but are generally concentrated on the central parts of the larger mouthparts, from the mandible to the third maxilliped.
The most significant parasite of N. norvegicus is a dinoflagellate
Dinoflagellate
The dinoflagellates are a large group of flagellate protists. Most are marine plankton, but they are common in fresh water habitats as well. Their populations are distributed depending on temperature, salinity, or depth...
of the genus Hematodinium
Hematodinium
Hematodinium is a genus of dinoflagellates. Species in this genus, such as Hematodinium perezi, the type species, are internal parasites of the hemolymph of crustaceans such as the Atlantic blue crab and Norway lobster...
, which has caused epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
infection in fished populations of N. norvegicus since the 1980s. Hematodinium is a genus that contains major pathogens of a wide variety of decapod crustaceans, although its internal taxonomy is poorly resolved. The species which attacks N. norvegicus causes a syndrome
Syndrome
In medicine and psychology, a syndrome is the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs , symptoms , phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one or more features alerts the physician to the possible presence of the others...
originally described as "post-moult syndrome", in which the carapace
Carapace
A carapace is a dorsal section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron.-Crustaceans:In crustaceans, the...
turns opaque and becomes highly pigmented, the haemolymph
Hemolymph
Hemolymph, or haemolymph, is a fluid in the circulatory system of some arthropods and is analogous to the fluids and cells making up both blood and interstitial fluid in vertebrates such as birds and mammals...
becomes milky white, and the animal appears moribund. Other parasites of N. norvegicus include the gregarine protozoa
Protozoa
Protozoa are a diverse group of single-cells eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement...
n Porospora nephropis, the trematode
Trematoda
Trematoda is a class within the phylum Platyhelminthes that contains two groups of parasitic flatworms, commonly referred to as "flukes".-Taxonomy and biodiversity:...
Stichocotyle nephropis and the polychaete
Polychaete
The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. Indeed, polychaetes are sometimes referred to as bristle worms. More than 10,000...
Histriobdella homari.
Life cycle
The typical life spanLongevity
The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected ....
of N. norvegicus is 5–10 years, reaching 15 years in exceptional cases. Its reproductive cycle varies depending on geographical position: "the periods of hatching and spawning, and the length of the incubation period, vary with latitude and the breeding cycle changes from annual to biennial as one moves from south to north". Incubation of eggs is temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
-dependent, and in colder climates, the duration of the incubation period increases. This means that, by the time hatching occurs, it may be too late for the females to take part in that year's breeding cycle. In warmer climates, the combined effects of recovery from moulting
Ecdysis
Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticula in many invertebrates. This process of moulting is the defining feature of the clade Ecdysozoa, comprising the arthropods, nematodes, velvet worms, horsehair worms, rotifers, tardigrades and Cephalorhyncha...
and ovary maturation mean that spawning can become delayed. This, in turn, has the effect of the female missing out a year of egg carrying.
Adult male Nephrops norvegicus moult
Ecdysis
Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticula in many invertebrates. This process of moulting is the defining feature of the clade Ecdysozoa, comprising the arthropods, nematodes, velvet worms, horsehair worms, rotifers, tardigrades and Cephalorhyncha...
once or twice a year (usually in late winter or spring) and adult females moult up to once a year (in late winter or spring, after hatching of the eggs). In annual breeding cycles, mating takes place in the spring or winter, when the females are in the soft, post-moult state. The ovaries mature throughout the summer and spring months, and egg-laying takes place in early autumn or late summer. After spawning, the berried (egg-carrying) females return to their burrows and remain there until the end of the incubation period. Hatching takes place in early spring or late winter. Soon after hatching, the females moult and mate again.
Fisheries
The muscular tail of Nephrops norvegicus is frequently eaten, and its meat is known as scampiScampi
Scampi is the term for a particular type of lobster, deriving originally from the Greek word κάμπη 'kampē' meaning a 'bending' or 'winding'. The name is sometimes used loosely to describe a style of preparation typically for seafood, and as a culinary name for some species of crustacean...
. N. norvegicus is eaten only on special occasions in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal, where it is less expensive than the common lobster, Homarus gammarus. N. norvegicus is an important species for fisheries
Lobster fishing
Lobster fishing, sometimes called lobstering, is the commercial or recreational harvesting of marine lobsters, spiny lobsters or crayfish.-Lobster tools and technology:...
, being caught mostly by trawling
Trawling
Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net that is used for trawling is called a trawl....
. Around 60,000 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s are caught annually, half of it in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's waters
Exclusive Economic Zone
Under the law of the sea, an exclusive economic zone is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, including production of energy from water and wind. It stretches from the seaward edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical...
.
Discards from Nephrops fishery may account for up to 37% of the energy requirements
Ecological energetics
Ecological energetics is the quantitative study of the flow of energy through ecological systems. It aims to uncover the principles which describe the propensity of such energy flows through the trophic, or 'energy availing' levels of ecological networks. In systems ecology the principles of...
of certain marine scavenger
Scavenger
Scavenging is both a carnivorous and herbivorous feeding behavior in which individual scavengers search out dead animal and dead plant biomass on which to feed. The eating of carrion from the same species is referred to as cannibalism. Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by...
s, such as the hagfish
Hagfish
Hagfish, the clade Myxini , are eel-shaped slime-producing marine animals . They are the only living animals that have a skull but not a vertebral column. Along with lampreys, hagfish are jawless and are living fossils whose next nearest relatives include all vertebrates...
Myxine glutinosa. Boats involved in Nephrops fishery also catch a number of fish species such as plaice
European plaice
The European plaice, Pleuronectes platessa, is a commercially important flatfish.- Distribution and habitat :The geographical range of the European plaice is off all coasts from the Barents Sea to the Mediterranean, also in the Northeast Atlantic and along Greenland...
and sole
Common sole
The common sole, Dover sole, or black sole, Solea solea, is a species of flatfish in the Soleidae family.It has a preference for relatively shallow water with sand or mud covering the bottom....
, and it is thought that without that revenue, Nephrops fishery would be economically unviable.
Taxonomic history
Nephrops norvegicus was one of the species included by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition10th edition of Systema Naturae
The 10th edition of Systema Naturae was a book written by Carl Linnaeus and published in two volumes in 1758 and 1759, which marks the starting point of zoological nomenclature...
of , the starting point for zoological nomenclature. In that work, it was listed as , with a type locality of ("in the Norwegian sea"). In choosing a lectotype
Lectotype
In botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature, a lectotype is a kind of name-bearing type. When a species was originally described on the basis of a name-bearing type consisting of multiple specimens, one of those may be designated as the lectotype...
, Lipke Holthuis
Lipke Holthuis
Lipke Bijdeley Holthuis was a Dutch carcinologist, considered one of the "undisputed greats" of carcinology, and "the greatest carcinologist of our time"....
restricted the type locality to the Kattegat
Kattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
at the Kullen Peninsula
Kullaberg
Kullaberg is a nature reserve situated on a peninsula of land protruding into the Kattegat in Höganäs Municipality near the town of Mölle in southwest Sweden. The site in the province of Skåne is an area of considerable biodiversity supporting a number of rare species and has been designated as an...
in southern Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Two synonyms
Synonym (taxonomy)
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...
of the species have been published – "Astacus rugosus", described by the eccentric zoologist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1814 from material collected in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, and "Nephropsis cornubiensis", described by Charles Spence Bate
Charles Spence Bate
Charles Spence Bate, or Spence Bate, FRS was a British zoologist and dentist, who who practiced first at Swansea, and then Plymouth, taking over his father's practice. He was an authority on the Crustacea, and a frequent correspondent of Charles Darwin, mostly concerning their shared interest in...
and Joshua Brooking Rowe in 1880.
As new genera were erected, the species was moved, reaching its current position in 1814, when William Elford Leach
William Elford Leach
William Elford Leach FRS was an English zoologist and marine biologist.Leach was born at Hoe Gate, Plymouth, the son of a solicitor. At the age of twelve he went to school in Exeter, studying anatomy and chemistry. By this time he was already collecting marine samples from Plymouth Sound and along...
erected the genus Nephrops
Nephrops
Nephrops is a genus of lobsters comprising a single extant species, Nephrops norvegicus , and several fossil species. It was erected by William Elford Leach in 1814, to accommodate N...
to hold this species alone. Seven fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
species have since been described in the genus.
Populations in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
are sometimes separated as "Nephrops norvegicus var. meridionalis Zariquiey, 1935", although this taxon is not universally considered valid.