Behaviour
© Nathaniel Pinder 2009
Caribbean spiny lobsters are social animals and live in groups. When attacked the whole group will come together in a defensive pod and stick their spiny antennae straight up at the predator. This makes it difficult to pick off any one lobster.
When they move their antennae the base rubs against a ‘file’ on their body, making a rasping noise to repel predators. Spiny lobsters are the only animals that make sound in this way.
They are fussy when it comes to selecting den-mates and will shun any diseased individuals. Remarkably, they can tell if a lobster is infected even before it shows signs of being sick.
These animals are famous for their migratory marches. During autumn they head for deep water in long processions, single file. They are one of the few invertebrates capable of true navigation and may use ‘maps’ of the Earth’s magnetic field to do this.