 = Cape lobster = 
 
 The Cape lobster , Homarinus capensis , is a species of small lobster that lives off the coast of South Africa , from Dassen Island to Haga Haga . Only a few dozen specimens are known , mostly regurgitated by reef @-@ dwelling fish . It lives in rocky reefs , and is thought to lay large eggs that have a short larval phase , or that hatch directly as a juvenile . The species grows to a total length of 10 cm ( 3 @.@ 9 in ) , and resembles a small European or American lobster ; it was previously included in the same genus , Homarus , although it is not very closely related to those species , and is now considered to form a separate , monotypic genus – Homarinus . Its closest relatives are the genera Thymops and Thymopides . 
 
 = = Distribution and ecology = = 
 
 The Cape lobster is endemic to South Africa . It occurs from Dassen Island , Western Cape in the west to Haga Haga , Eastern Cape in the east , a range of 900 kilometres ( 560 mi ) . Most of the known specimens were regurgitated by fish caught on reefs at depths of 20 – 40 metres ( 66 – 131 ft ) . This suggests that the Cape lobster inhabits rocky substrates , and may explain its apparent rarity , since such areas are not amenable to dredging or trawling , and the species may be too small to be retained by lobster traps . 
 
 = = Description = = 
 
 Homarinus capensis is considerably smaller than the large northern lobsters of the Atlantic Ocean , Homarus gammarus ( the European lobster ) and Homarus americanus ( the American lobster ) , at 8 – 10 centimetres ( 3 @.@ 1 – 3 @.@ 9 in ) total length , or 4 – 5 cm ( 1 @.@ 6 – 2 @.@ 0 in ) carapace length . Accounts of the colouration of H. capensis are very variable , from tawny , red or yellow to " a rather dark olive " , similar to Homarus gammarus . 
 Homarinus and Homarus are considered to be the most plesiomorphic genera in the family Nephropidae . Nonetheless , the Cape lobster differs from Homarus in a number of characters . The rostrum of the Cape lobster is flattened , while that of Homarus is rounded in section , and curves upwards at the tip . The three pairs of claws are covered with hairs in Homarinus , while those of Homarus are hairless . The telson tapers along its length in Homarus , but has sides which are nearly parallel in Homarinus . Although no egg @-@ bearing females have been collected , the gonopores ( openings of the oviducts ) of female Cape lobsters are much larger than those of Homarus gammarus and Homarus americanus . This is thought to indicate that Homarinus bears fewer , larger eggs than Homarus , and that either the larvae develop quickly into juveniles after hatching , or that the eggs hatch directly into juveniles . 
 
 = = Taxonomy and evolution = = 
 
 Cape lobsters are elusive and rare , with only fourteen specimens having been collected between 1792 ( the date of its first description ) and 1992 . These include five males in the collections of the South African Museum ( Cape Town ) , two in the Natural History Museum ( London ) , one in each of the East London Museum , the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie ( Leiden ) and the Albany Museum ( Grahamstown ) , and one male and one female in the Muséum national d 'histoire naturelle ( Paris ) . In 1992 , a Cape lobster was discovered at Dassen Island , and the publicity the find generated resulted in more than 20 additional specimens being reported . 
 The Cape lobster was first described by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1792 as Cancer ( Astacus ) capensis . It was independently described in 1793 by Johan Christian Fabricius as Astacus flavus , possibly based on the same type specimen . When Friedrich Weber erected the genus Homarus in 1795 , he included Fabricius ' species in it , but this placement was not followed by later authors . The species reached its current classification in 1995 , when the monotypic genus Homarinus was erected by Irv Kornfield , Austin B. Williams and Robert S. Steneck . 
 While analyses of morphology suggest a close relationship between Homarinus and Homarus , molecular analyses using mitochondrial DNA reveal that they are not sister taxa . Both genera lack ornamentation such as spines and carinae , but are thought to have reached that state independently , through convergent evolution . The closest living relative of Homarus is Nephrops norvegicus , while the closest relatives of Homarinus are Thymops and Thymopides . 
 
 