Spiny Lobster

spiny lobster the correct name for crustaceans of the family Palinuridae, is preferable to the name crawfish which is sometimes used but invites confusion with crayfish. Needless to say, using the name crayfish or cray, as sometimes in Australia, is even more likely to cause confusion. On top of all this, it is also all too easy to be confused by the scientific nomenclature. The family Palinuridae contains two important genera of which one is Palinurus while the other is Panulirus. It is strange that the natural historians involved in this matter did not realise how confusing the similarity of the two names could be, except for specialists like themselves.