La langouste rose de Mauritanie Palinirus mauritanicus Gruvel

The observations conducted during three pink spiny lobster pot fisheries along the Mauritanian coasts showed a predominance of adults measuring 42 to 44 cm from September 1955 to June 1956. This age group accounted for 56 % of the catches in September, 49 % in January, and only 28 % in May/June. This progressive drop in the modal group raises worries about the future of the pink spiny lobster population which may suffer the same fate as spiny lobsters. Professionals fishing this slow growing species should be very cautious, as the destruction of the stocks could happen very fast, especially after annual fisheries of more than 120 tonnes, like in 1957.