Scyllarides latus

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:

Scyllarides latus

Species Authority:

(Latreille, 1802)

Common Name/s:

English	–	Mediterranean Slipper Lobster
French	–	Grandecigale
Spanish	–	Cigarra

Synonym/s:

Pseudibacus veranyi Guérin Méneville, 1855

Scyllarus latus Latreille, 1802

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Data Deficient ver 3.1
Year Published:	2011
Assessor/s:	Butler, M., MacDiarmid, A. & Cockcroft, A.
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: Scyllarides latus has been assessed as Data Deficient. This species has been subject to intense harvesting pressure throughout its range. In some areas, such as Italy and the Azores, attempts at recovery of stocks may be too late. A global management strategy needs to be implemented that focuses on protecting key habitat areas. Further data is needed on the population status of stocks at the present time before a more accurate assessment of conservation status can be made.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is distributed throughout the Mediterranean except in the northern and central Adriatic. It is also found in the central eastern Atlantic from the coast of Portugal (near Lisbon) to Senegal, Madeira, the Azores, the Selvagens Islands, and Cape Verde Islands (Holthuis 1991, Pessani and Mura 2007). The type locality for this species is in the Mediterranean from the coast near Rome (Holthuis 1991).
Countries:	Native: Albania; Algeria; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Cape Verde; Cyprus; Egypt (Sinai); France (France (mainland)); Gibraltar; Greece (East Aegean Is., Greece (mainland), Kriti); Israel; Italy (Italy (mainland), Sardegna, Sicilia); Lebanon; Libya; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malta; Mauritania; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Palestinian Territory, Occupied; Portugal (Azores, Madeira, Portugal (mainland), Selvagens); Spain (Baleares, Canary Is., Spain (mainland), Spanish North African Territories); Syrian Arab Republic; Tunisia; Turkey (Turkey-in-Europe); 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:	This species is the subject of intensive harvesting and as a result it has become rare along the European coast of the west Mediterranean and in its Atlantic Ocean range of distribution. It is still quite common in the eastern Mediterranean along the coasts of Israel, Cyprus and Turkey, the southern coast of Crete (Greece), and along the North African coast (Pessani and Mura 2007). A reasonable population of the species has been discovered off the coast of Albania, probably due to the fact that the fishery here is not as well developed as in the rest of the Mediterranean (Pessani and Mura 2007).
Population Trend:	Unknown

Population:

This species is the subject of intensive harvesting and as a result it has become rare along the European coast of the west Mediterranean and in its Atlantic Ocean range of distribution. It is still quite common in the eastern Mediterranean along the coasts of Israel, Cyprus and Turkey, the southern coast of Crete (Greece), and along the North African coast (Pessani and Mura 2007).

A reasonable population of the species has been discovered off the coast of Albania, probably due to the fact that the fishery here is not as well developed as in the rest of the Mediterranean (Pessani and Mura 2007).

Population Trend:

Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This nocturnal species forages at night and shelters during the day in lairs within rocks or in underwater caves (Lavalli et al. 2007). It typically dwells inshore on: rocky substrates, inhabiting shallow subtidal zones dominated by barrens, seaweeds, deeper subtidal zones dominated by reef animals, and sponge gardens. It is normally found in depths between 2 and 50 m; but has been recorded up to 400 m deep (Pessani and Mura 2007). Gregarious in nature (Lavalli et al. 2007), this species eats bivalves and gastropods (Lavalli et al. 2007, Pessani and Mura 2007) and can reach total lengths of up to 45 cm; but is normally not more than 30 cm (Pessani and Mura 2007). This species is thought to reproduce seasonally in the warmer months from June to August (Holthuis 1991, Hearn et al. 2007), and its fecundity ranges from 100,000-356,000 eggs per female (Sekiguchi et al. 2007). No juveniles of this species have ever been found and it has been speculated that these life-stages may inhabit deep sea habitats (Lavalli et al. 2007). Generation length is unknown.
Systems:	Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

This nocturnal species forages at night and shelters during the day in lairs within rocks or in underwater caves (Lavalli et al. 2007). It typically dwells inshore on: rocky substrates, inhabiting shallow subtidal zones dominated by barrens, seaweeds, deeper subtidal zones dominated by reef animals, and sponge gardens. It is normally found in depths between 2 and 50 m; but has been recorded up to 400 m deep (Pessani and Mura 2007).

Gregarious in nature (Lavalli et al. 2007), this species eats bivalves and gastropods (Lavalli et al. 2007, Pessani and Mura 2007) and can reach total lengths of up to 45 cm; but is normally not more than 30 cm (Pessani and Mura 2007).

This species is thought to reproduce seasonally in the warmer months from June to August (Holthuis 1991, Hearn et al. 2007), and its fecundity ranges from 100,000-356,000 eggs per female (Sekiguchi et al. 2007). No juveniles of this species have ever been found and it has been speculated that these life-stages may inhabit deep sea habitats (Lavalli et al. 2007). Generation length is unknown.

Systems:

Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The main threat facing this species is over-harvesting. Although still common in parts of its range, this species has been over-exploited in the Azores and Italy to the extent that these stocks may not be able to recover (Bianchini and Ragonese 2007).

Major Threat(s):

The main threat facing this species is over-harvesting. Although still common in parts of its range, this species has been over-exploited in the Azores and Italy to the extent that these stocks may not be able to recover (Bianchini and Ragonese 2007).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	This species was declared a marine species in need of protection in the western Mediterranean (Spanier 1991 in Spanier and Lavalli 2007). It is subject to the 92/43/EEC (European Economic Community) Council Directive (1992) dealing with the preservation of natural and seminatural habitats, as well as wild flora and fauna (Habitats Directive; Annex V: Animal and plant species of Community interest); therefore exploitation may be subject to management measures (Pessani and Mura 2007). Harvesting in Sardinia was forbidden between 2000 - 2003 (Pessani and Mura 2007). However, the establishment of fishery regulations was too little, too late, for the dwindling populations of this species in the Azores and Italy, which may not be able to recover (Bianchini and Ragonese 2007). A global management strategy for this species needs to be implemented in order to maintain stocks at sustainable levels. The rocky outcrops that are the preferable habitat for this species are limited in the southeastern Mediterranean. Therefore management should focus on these ecosystems which also serve as preferred grounds for other economically important species such as groupers, bream and octopuses (Spanier and Lavalli 2007). A decline in global captures of Scyllaridae has been documented, although information on specific species is lacking (Spanier and Lavalli 2007). Further research is necessary to determine the impact that global harvesting is having on specific species, and to clarify if the documented decline is due to reduced populations or simply reduced effort.

Conservation Actions:

This species was declared a marine species in need of protection in the western Mediterranean (Spanier 1991 in Spanier and Lavalli 2007). It is subject to the 92/43/EEC (European Economic Community) Council Directive (1992) dealing with the preservation of natural and seminatural habitats, as well as wild flora and fauna (Habitats Directive; Annex V: Animal and plant species of Community interest); therefore exploitation may be subject to management measures (Pessani and Mura 2007). Harvesting in Sardinia was forbidden between 2000 - 2003 (Pessani and Mura 2007). However, the establishment of fishery regulations was too little, too late, for the dwindling populations of this species in the Azores and Italy, which may not be able to recover (Bianchini and Ragonese 2007).

A global management strategy for this species needs to be implemented in order to maintain stocks at sustainable levels. The rocky outcrops that are the preferable habitat for this species are limited in the southeastern Mediterranean. Therefore management should focus on these ecosystems which also serve as preferred grounds for other economically important species such as groupers, bream and octopuses (Spanier and Lavalli 2007).

A decline in global captures of Scyllaridae has been documented, although information on specific species is lacking (Spanier and Lavalli 2007). Further research is necessary to determine the impact that global harvesting is having on specific species, and to clarify if the documented decline is due to reduced populations or simply reduced effort.

Citation:	Butler, M., MacDiarmid, A. & Cockcroft, A. 2011. Scyllarides latus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 25 May 2013.
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