Range & Status

A rare species found in crab pots and trawls in the western English Channel. It is also found beneath rock overhangs and in caves in depths 9-55m. Recently, 2007, it was recorded for the first time from south-west Ireland, its most northerly site to date. Elsewhere it occurs in the Channel Islands, Brittany and south through the Bay of Biscay, Portugal and the Mediterranean to north Africa (Mauritania). It also occurs in the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. There are at least nine old, late 19th/early 20th century records from the Cornish coastline. In recent years (post-1996) this species seems to have become more frequent in the western English Channel with at least 11 records, all from the Isles of Scilly and the south coast of Cornwall. Some of these specimens have been gravid females.