Florida Spiny Lobster

     This huge statue of a Spiny lobster is located in front of the Rain Barrel Artisan Village, in Islamorada (Mile Marker 86.7). "Billed as an unhurried shopping showplace," it does not include lobster restaurants or markets. It is an attraction for business, addressing the large lobster-diving customer base that the Florida Keys depend on.

The spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) is a crustacean related to crabs, shrimp, crayfish and the Spanish lobster. Common names include crawfish (this is not the freshwater crawfish) and Florida lobster. In Florida, the spiny lobster is caught off the Keys and around the southern tip of the state from waters of the Atlantic Ocean near the Florida Reef Tract.

The spiny lobster is characterized by numerous spines on the body, two large, hooked horns over the eyes, a pair of long jointed antennae and five pairs of walking legs. It has mottled coloring of yellow, brown, orange and blue markings over the body and tail. The tail is segmented and can be rapidly curled under the body to propel the lobster backward.

Like all crustaceans, the spiny lobster molts or sheds its shell to grow. Its diet consists of clams, snails, seaweed and small marine organisms. Lobsters form a single line, called "marches," and move from shallow to deep water during seasonal migration.

Spiny lobsters are harvested using special traps at depths of 6 to 300 feet and are usually landed live. They are marketed as whole lobster, lobster tails, split tails and lobster meat. These products are available fresh or frozen, raw or cooked. The term "green" is used to refer to raw lobster.

SPINY LOBSTER ATTRIBUTES
Coarse texture, white meat with sweet distinct flavor. Low fat.

--- excerpted from http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-spiny-lobster-7806.html

"Spiny lobster, of the family Paniluridae, differ from the archetypal lobsters of the North Atlantic (Maine lobster) in having no claws and in belonging to warmer waters. Their size and the excellence of their meat ensures that they are in strong demand. The established recipes for the [Maine] lobster, generally speaking, have been those of classical French cuisine plus the more robust traditions evolved in North America; whereas the spiny lobster, with its worldwide range in warmer waters, has attracted to itself a large number of recipes involving tropical or subtropical ingredients."
--- excerpted from Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 747)


"Spiny lobster tails can be boiled, steamed, deep-fried or broiled, or the raw meat can be removed for the shell and used in any of the prepared dishes such a scurries, thermidors, newburgs or salads. Never bake it, as the musculature will tighten like a drumhead."

---The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery, A.J. McClane [Holt, Rinehart and Winston:New York] 1977 (p. 177-9)

     Like Maine lobster, Florida spiny lobster was not appreciated as a food, much less cuisine. I remember my Dad saying that spear-fisherman would catch lobster for chum, to draw-in marketable fish. Lobster were considered as roaches of the ocean, ubiquitous bottom feeders - they were all over the place - crowding hiding places were fish could have been. Then it was discovered that spiny lobster are excellent eating and the hunt was on. I don't know when. The late 1950's to 1960's would be my guess. Maine lobster became popular in the mid 19th century, however.

     I have spent more time catching, rather than cooking, spiny lobster. My father was the lobster chef of our family. Mom generally cooked our meals, but when we had lobster, Dad took over. We always caught our own, that is Dad and myself, and my friends from the neighborhood.

     We caught the lobster on patch reefs and coral heads off of Elliott Key and kept them in a big burlap bag. At the marina, the lobsters were dumped out, and the heads (carapace) were "wrung" off of the tails, which were cleaned (digestive tract removed) and put on ice in the cooler. The heads were thrown in the marina basin. At first, in the late 1960's, Dad would boil the lobster. Years later he would cook the lobster on a broiler and a grill. And they were always served with drawn butter.

     Today, I still dive (snorkel) for lobster when the "mini-season" opens. The lobster population is decimated early in the season and the recreational/sport diving becomes nominal. I make no effort to prepare the lobster I catch for a meal, other than melted garlic-butter. I clean the meat from the tail, place it a bowl of water, and cook it in a micro-wave - long enough to cook the meat, but not too long. Over micro-waved lobster, like over boiling, is rubbery. It isn't haute couture cuisine, but it is lobster.