Crustaceans are arthropods and their body is covered with an exoskeleton, it is more or less rigid except in certain areas that allow articulation and movement. Morocco is well renowned for its species such as the deep water rose shrimp, spiny lobster, royal spiny lobster, pink spiny lobster and the langoustine.
EUROPEAN LOBSTER : HOMARUS GAMMARUS
Also called Tarouchet, Bougavanti or Lobster, it has a long and robust body consisting of a cephalothorax, a powerful abdomen and a tail. It has a dark blue color, its legs have white tips and its antennaes are orange.
At the edge of its first three legs are claws, the first pair is asymmetrical, larger and more massive than the others.
The lobster has two large antennaes and two antennules, its eyes are mobile and well developed, its abdominal segments are smooth.
Its common length is between 23 and 50 cm with a maximum length of 65 cm.
This benthic species prefers rocky bottoms for as deep as 150 m deep and leads a sedentary life.
DEEP WATER ROSE SHRIMP: PARAPENAEUS LONGIROSTRIS
The pink shrimp is a decapod crustacean. Its body is laterally compressed and is pink-orange.
This species stands out by its short red rostrum with 8 teeth on the dorsal border, the absence of exopodites at the base of the thoracic legs as well as by the absence of mobile spines with 2 fixed spines on the telson.
The common length of males is 8 to 14 cm with a maximum of 16 cm while females have a common length of 12 to 16 cm with a maximum of 19 cm.
It is a demersal species that lives in muddy or sandy-muddy bottoms from 20 to 700 m deep, generally from 70 to 400 m.
RED SHRIMP : ARISTEUS ANTENNATUS
Also called kemroun or royal shrimp. It is pearly red with blue areas on its shell and light areas on its abdomen. This species stands out by the presence of three teeth at the base of the rostrum.
Its common length is between 10 and 18 cm and can reach up to 22 cm.
It is a demersal species that lives in muddy bottoms from 80 to 1440 m deep. It travels from 150 m at night to more than 800 m during the day in the submarine valleys.
SCARLET SHRIMP : PLESIOPENAEUS EDWADSIANUS
Also called royal shrimp, Kemroun, gambon écarlat (Scarlet gambon); it is bright red and it stands out by the absence of the postorbital spine, by longer carps and by a strongly carinated shell.
Its length can reach up to 19 cm for males and 33 cm for females.
It is a demersal species that lives in muddy bottoms of 400 to 900 m deep.
CARAMOTE PRAWN : PENAEUS KERATHURUS
The caramote prawn has a well developed rostrum and a single tooth on its ventral edge, the color of its body is variable, the males are often light in color with pink transverse bars on the abdomen, the females are greenish or greyish yellow with copper green or brownish purple bars.
The length of the males goes from 8 to 18 cm while the length of the females goes from 17 to 18 cm.
It is a demersal, coastal species that lives in marine and brackish waters, just above sandy bottom between 5 and 90 m of depth.
ATLANTIC MUD SHRIMP : SOLENOCERA MEMBRANACEA
It has a soft body. Its rostrum does not reach the end of the antennal peduncle, its dorsal edge is provided with 7 teeth while its ventral edge has no teeth. Its shell contains a post-orbital spine.
Its color is red orange and is more or less transparent. Its common length is 8 to 10 cm with a maximum of 12 cm.
It is a demersal species that lives in muddy bottoms from 40 to 700 m deep.
RED SPINY LOBSTER : PALINURUS ELEPHAS
Also called Bakhouche or Azeffane. It is a large crustacean with a very elongated and segmented body. Its shell has no rostrum and its legs carry no claws. It is reddish-brown.
It has very long spiny and fragile antennaes. It stands out by the presence of yellowish white longitudinal lines on its antennaes and legs.
Its common length is between 20 and 40 cm with a maximum length of 50 cm.
It is a benthic species that lives in rocky bottoms and rarely sandy bottoms from 15 to 160 m deep.
PINK SPINY LOBSTER :PALINURUS MAURITANICUS
It resembles the european spiny lobster but differs in its pink color and its longer antennae.
Its common length is between 20 and 40 cm with a maximum length of 50cm.
It is a benthic species that lives in rocky, coral and muddy bottoms of 400 to 500 m deep.
GREEN LOBSTER OR ROYAL SPINY LOBSTER :PANULIRUS REGIUS
It’s green with white bands on the abdomen. Its common length is between 5 and 35 cm with a maximum of 45 cm.
It is a benthic species that lives in shallow sublittoral waters as deep as 40m, it is more commonly found between 5 and 15 m in rocky bottoms.
LANGOUSTINE : NEPHROPS NORVEGICUS
It has a tubular body and a shell equiped with a well developed rostrum. There are claws on the edge of the first three pairs of legs, the first pair is much larger than the others.
It has a common length of 10 to 19 cm with a maximum of 24 cm.
This species is benthic and lives in muddy or sandy-muddy bottoms of 20 to 800 m deep, it is more abundant between 200 to 500 m and lives in warrens.