ABSTRACT
The last 30 years have seen a tremendous increase in research on various aspects of lobster biology, but this increase has focused primarily on clawed and spiny lobsters. Research on slipper lobsters remains limited and our current knowledge base, to a certain extent, is less than that for clawed and spiny lobsters 30 years ago. At the same time, slipper lobsters increasingly are becoming targets ofcommercial fishery operations or are taken as by-product in other fisheries, and it is therefore critical to improve our biological understanding of these animals to effect sustainable management schemes that will ensure the survival of slipper lobster stocks. Furthermore, current physiological studies suggest that slipper lobsters may provide unique models for neurophysiology and ontogeny of gas and ion exchange systems. This volume attempts to pull together the current information on the biology, aquaculture, and fisheries of slipper lobsters to stimulate further interest in these animals, as has been successfully done with other lobster families via similar focused volumes.
