Langostino de Sanlúcar a la plancha IMGP3911

''Langostino'' is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

word with different meanings in different areas. In the United States, it is commonly used in the restaurant trade to refer to the meat of the

squat lobster Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongsi ...

, which is neither a true

lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

nor a

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...

. Squat lobsters are more closely related to

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

and

hermit crab Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an a ...

Crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gr ...

labeled as langostino are no more than long, and weigh no more than . Langostinos are not

langouste Spiny lobsters, also known as langustas, langouste, or rock lobsters, are a family (Palinuridae) of about 60 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia. Spiny lobsters are also, especially in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Sou ...

s (spiny lobsters) despite a similar name (in Spanish, lobster is called '). Also, langostinos are sometimes confused with

langoustines ''Nephrops norvegicus'', known variously as the Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn, ' (compare langostino) or ''scampi'', is a slim, orange-pink lobster which grows up to long, and is "the most important commercial crustacean in Europe". It is n ...

(Norway lobster). In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

allows "langostino" to be used as a market name for three species of

in the family

Galatheidae The Galatheidae are a family of squat lobster Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form ...

: ''

Cervimunida johni ''Cervimunida johni'' is a species of squat lobster in the family Munididae. It is found in the Pacific Ocean, off of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmos ...

'', ''

Munida gregaria ''Munida gregaria,'' commonly known as the gregarious squat lobster, is a species of squat lobster found along the eastern seaboard of the South Island of New Zealand, around the southern coast of Tasmania and in a few locations around the so ...

'', and ''

Pleuroncodes monodon ''Pleuroncodes monodon'', sometimes called the red squat lobster, is a species of squat lobster from the south-eastern Pacific Ocean, where it is the subject of commercial fishery alongside the species ''Cervimunida johni''. Fishery The fishery ...

''. In

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, it means some species of

s. In

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and other

-speaking Caribbean islands, the name langostino is also used to refer to

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, ...

. In Argentina the name is used to refer to '' Pleoticus muelleri'', a kind of shrimp, while in Chile and Peru it refers to ''Pleuroncodes monodon''.

Restaurant labeling controversies

In March 2006,

Long John Silver's Long John Silver's (formerly known as Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppes and sometimes abbreviated as LJS) is an American chain of fast-food restaurants that specializes in seafood. The brand's name is derived from the novel ''Treasure Island ...

garnered controversy by offering a dish they called "Buttered Lobster Bites" without making it clear in its advertising that these were made from "langostino lobster." The Federal Trade Commission ultimately launched an investigation into deceptive advertising practices by the chain, because

regulations require that anyone marketing langostino as lobster must place the qualifier "langostino" adjacent to the word "lobster," and Long John Silver's not only failed to do this, but ran a television commercial making use of an American lobster in a manner that the Commission concluded was contributing to the misperception that the product was American lobster. Upon being contacted by the commission, Long John Silver's promptly terminated the television commercial campaigns, revised its website, and committed both to prominently placing the word "langostino" adjacent to the term "lobster" in all future advertising, and to revising its existing in-store materials accordingly within eight weeks, and on June 24, 2009, the Commission wrote to the chain to inform them that they had no intention of taking further action at that time. Rubio's Restaurants, Inc., settled a 2006 class-action lawsuit for selling "lobster burritos" and "lobster tacos" that were in fact made with squat lobster. The company agreed to change the name to "langostino lobster". In February 2016,

Red Lobster Red Lobster Hospitality LLC is an American casual dining restaurant chain headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company has operations across most of the United States (including Puerto Rico, Guam) and Canada, as well as in China, Ecuador, Hon ...

was revealed to have been a mix of lobster and less-expensive langostino for its lobster bisque.

References

External links

* {{Edible crustaceans Squat lobsters Edible crustaceans Arthropod common names