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4-pound lobster discovered off coast of Madagascar
mongabay.com
December 10, 2006

A 4 kg rock lobster, Palinurus barbarae, found off Madagascar. Credit: J. Groenevelt, Marine and Coastal Management, South Africa ©2006.

Researchers with the Census of Marine Life discovered a 1.8 kg (4 lb) rock lobster that lives off the coast of Madagascar. Named Palinurus barbarae, the beast is half a meter (one-and-a-half feet) long.

The species was accidentally discovered when a Spanish fishing vessel captured a batch of the lobsters near the Walters Shoals, a submerged chain of underwater mountains located 700 kilometers the north of the southern tip of Madagascar. Little else is known about their biology or abundance, but it seems likely that they are an unfished stock and will be exploited.

The Census of Marine Life (CoML), a research effort involving some 2000 researchers from 80 countries, aims to record the diversity, distribution, and abundance of global marine life.



This article is based on a news release from CoML.

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