Scyllarus arctus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	ARTHROPODA	CRUSTACEA	DECAPODA	SCYLLARIDAE

Scientific Name:

Scyllarus arctus

Species Authority:

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Small European Locust Lobster

Synonym/s:

Cancer arctus Linnaeus, 1758

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2011
Assessor/s:	Butler, M., MacDiarmid, A., Wahle, R., Cockcroft, A. & Chan, T.Y.
Reviewer/s:	Collen, B., Livingstone, S. & Richman, N.
Contributor/s:	Batchelor, A., De Silva, R., Dyer, E., Kasthala, G., Lutz, M.L., McGuinness, S., Milligan, H.T., Soulsby, A.-M. & Whitton, F.
Justification: Scyllarus arctus has a wide distribution. It is harvested throughout its range, and known to be over-exploited locally in some regions. Although there have been these declines, the ecological characteristics of slipper lobsters make them resistant to extinction as they are highly fecund with well connected populations via long-lived larvae. Monitoring of harvest levels should be carried out to check for possible increases in fishing, together with stricter enforcement of current management regimes. This species is listed as Least Concern.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is distributed throughout the Mediterranean and in the Eastern Atlantic (Holthuis 1991). In the Eastern Atlantic, it is known from the south coast of the United Kingdom down to the Canary Islands, and includes the Azores and Madeira (Holthuis 1991).
Countries:	Native: Albania; Algeria; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Cyprus; Egypt (Egypt (African part)); France (France (mainland)); Gibraltar; Greece (East Aegean Is., Greece (mainland), Kriti); Guernsey; Israel; Italy (Italy (mainland), Sardegna, Sicilia); Jersey; Lebanon; Libya; Montenegro; Morocco; Palestinian Territory, Occupied; Portugal (Azores, Madeira, Portugal (mainland)); Slovenia; Spain (Baleares, Canary Is., Spain (mainland), Spanish North African Territories); Syrian Arab Republic; Tunisia; United Kingdom (Great Britain); Western Sahara
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Atlantic – eastern central; Atlantic – northeast; Mediterranean and Black Sea
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	There is no overall population information available for this species. However, this species has experienced a local decline in Cape Creus, Spain, where it was previously caught in small quantities, but now it is considered to be 'very rare' (Linares 2008 in Lloret and Riera 2008). In contrast, it is described as one of the common marine species off the Lebanese coast (Majdalani 2004).
Population Trend:	Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This species is found at depths of 4-50 m (Holthuis 1991). This species inhabits mud and rock substrates, but can also be found in fields of Posidonia species (Holthuis 1991). It has also been found in artificial reefs and areas designated to the 'protection of the Posidonia meadows from illegal trawling and, if possible, restore it to its past size' (Relini et al. 2007).
Systems:	Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	This species is threatened locally by habitat loss due to decreasing Posidonia fields, and also by over-fishing by hand in some areas (Holthuis 1991, Relini et al. 2007), but this is not considered a major threat to the species over its entire range.

Major Threat(s):

This species is threatened locally by habitat loss due to decreasing Posidonia fields, and also by over-fishing by hand in some areas (Holthuis 1991, Relini et al. 2007), but this is not considered a major threat to the species over its entire range.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	This species has been listed by the Council of Europe as a protected species in the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Council of Europe 1979).

Conservation Actions:

This species has been listed by the Council of Europe as a protected species in the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Council of Europe 1979).

Citation:	Butler, M., MacDiarmid, A., Wahle, R., Cockcroft, A. & Chan, T.Y. 2011. Scyllarus arctus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 23 May 2013.
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