Западный австралийский омар: биология и промысел.

Species of crustacean

Panulirus cygnus is a species of spiny lobster (family Palinuridae), found off the west coast of Australia. Panulirus cygnus is the basis of Australia's most valuable fishery, making up 20% of value of Australia's total fishing industry, and is identified as the western rock lobster.

Panulirus cygnus was previously classified under several taxonomic arrangements, the description as a new species was published in 1962. The Western Australian crayfish was identified in 1916 as Panulirus penicillatus (Olivier, 1791). This was reassessed at the British Museum by Isabella Gordon in 1936 as Panulirus longipes at the request of Ludwig Glauert, a diagnosis that was conserved, despite further doubts, due to its extensive use by the state's crayfishing industry and associated legislation. The author, Ray George, recognised the similarities to other species of Panulirus in a comparative study, but proposed the anatomical characteristics were of an undescribed species. The generic name is an anagram of Palinurus, as with other genera of its nominal family Palinuridae, the spiny lobsters. The name is derived from Palinurus, mentioned in the Aeneid, whose improper burial caused his soul to drift near the coast to the open seas; an appropriate metaphor for the habits of the spiny lobsters that develop near the coast and migrate away from it. other specimens in their collection were reclassified as paratypes. George's taxon was recognised as a subspecies until the 1970s, when a revision elevated the population to the rank of species. The recognition of the species was relevant to the conservation of its related fishing industry, it is unique to the region and could not be naturally repopulated from other regions. "crayfish" or "crays". The common names of "lobster", "homard" and "yabbie" are also used to refer to this species, along with many other crustaceans.

The range of the species is along the coast of Western Australia, from Hamelin Bay to the North West Cape, and at islands such as the Houtman Abrolhos. The species is known to have been caught since the settlement of Swan River Colony, in 1829, and expanded as the larger populations were discovered in remote locations of the state. The industry came to be centred at the Houtman Abrolhos, at the edge of the continental shelf, where the mature crays occur in large populations. A cannery was established at the islands to export the seasonal catch in the 1930s. The early industry claimed to harvest up to fourteen species, however, research into the Abrolhos populations recognised only three. The population harvested near Dongara is reputed to be a greater delicacy amongst consumers, although investigation of that catch did not reveal any morphological distinctions from other populations.