Furry lobsters (sometimes called coral lobsters) are small decapod crustaceans, closely related to the slipper lobsters and spiny lobsters. The antennae are not as enlarged as in spiny and slipper lobsters, and the body is covered in short hairs, hence the name furry lobster. Although previously considered a family in their own right (Synaxidae ), the furry lobsters were subsumed into the family Palinuridae in 1990, and molecular phylogenies support the inclusion of the furry lobsters in the family Palinuridae. There are two genera, with three species between them:
- Palinurellus gundlachi – Caribbean furry lobster, found in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic coast of South America; named for Juan Gundlach
- Palinurellus wieneckii – mole lobster, with an Indo-Pacific distribution
- Palibythus magnificus – musical furry lobster, from the South Pacific (originally described from Samoa)
Famous quotes containing the words furry and/or lobster:
“Horse, you flame thrower,
you shark-mouthed man,
you laughter at the end of poems,
you brown furry locomotive
whipping the snow, I am
a pale shadow beside you.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“I warn you, Jedediah, you’re not going to like it in Chicago. The wind comes howling in off the lake and gosh only knows if they ever heard of lobster Newburg.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1985)