The Tristan rock lobster, Jasus tristani, is a species of rock lobster

Spiny lobster

Spiny lobsters, also known as langouste or rock lobsters, are a family of about 45 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia...

 endemic to the Tristan da Cunha

Tristan da Cunha

Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and the main island of that group. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying from the nearest land, South Africa, and from South America...

 archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

 and Vema Seamount, 1680 kilometres (1,043.9 mi) north-east of Tristan. It is very closely related to J. paulensis and these two may represent a single species. The Tristan rock lobster features on the coat of arms

Coat of arms of Tristan da Cunha

The coat of arms of Tristan da Cunha was granted in 2002.-Features:The arms consist of a shield featuring four albatrosses in a blue-and-white mirror image design. The two supporters are Tristan rock lobsters, which are found in the waters surrounding the island...

 and the flag of Tristan da Cunha

Flag of Tristan da Cunha

The flag of Tristan da Cunha was adopted on October 20, 2002, in a proclamation made by the Governor of Saint Helena under a Royal Warrant granted by Queen Elizabeth II...

. Until 1950, the Tristan rock lobster was only fished

Lobster fishing

Lobster fishing, sometimes called lobstering, is the commercial or recreational harvesting of marine lobsters, spiny lobsters or crayfish.-Lobster tools and technology:...

 for local consumption, but after that time, companies such as the South Atlantic Islands Development Corporation have exploited the rock lobster population. Production peaked in the 1970s, with over 800 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 being collected in some years, but the industry has since waned, with less than 400 t being caught most years since 1992.