Editing Spiny lobster (section)

== Description ==
[[File:Jasus edwardsii.jpg|thumb|''[[Jasus edwardsii]]'']]
Although they superficially resemble [[lobster|true lobsters]] in terms of overall shape and having a hard [[carapace]] and [[exoskeleton]], the two groups are not closely related. Spiny lobsters can be easily distinguished from true lobsters by their very long, thick, spiny [[Antenna (biology)|antennae]], by the lack of [[chela (organ)|chelae]] (claws) on the first four pairs of walking legs, although the females of most species have a small claw on the fifth pair,<ref>{{cite book |url=http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/bis/lobsters.php?selected=definitie&menuentry=woordenlijst&record=chela |title=FAO species catalogue Vol. 13: Marine Lobsters of the World |author=Lipke Holthuis |author-link=Lipke Holthuis |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |year=1991 |isbn=92-5-103027-8 |chapter=Glossary |access-date=2007-07-25 |archive-date=2009-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207175719/http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/bis/lobsters.php?selected=definitie&menuentry=woordenlijst&record=chela |url-status=dead }}</ref> and by a particularly specialized larval phase called [[phyllosoma]]. True lobsters have much smaller antennae and claws on the first three pairs of [[arthropod leg|legs]], with the first being particularly enlarged.

Spiny lobsters typically have a slightly compressed carapace, lacking any lateral ridges. Their [[Antenna (biology)#Crustaceans|antennae]] lack a scaphocerite, the flattened exopod of the antenna. This is fused to the epistome (a plate between the [[Labrum (arthropod mouthpart)|labrum]] and the basis of the antenna). The flagellum, at the top of the antenna, is stout, tapering, and very long. The ambulatory legs ([[Decapod anatomy|pereopods]]) end in claws (chelae).<ref name = Handbook>{{cite book |author1=P. J. Hayward  |author2=J. S. Ryland  |name-list-style=amp |title=Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-West Europe |pages=430 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=0-19-854055-8}}</ref>