''Langostino'' is a word of

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

origin commonly applied to various types of

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

. “Langostino” is the Spanish diminutive of '( spiny lobster), which comes from the Latin for

locust Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...

. In the United States, it is commonly used in the restaurant trade to refer to the meat 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 part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongs ...

s, which are not true

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

s but are more closely related to

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

and

hermit crab Hermit crabs are anomuran Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the superfamily (taxonomy), superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit c ...

s. Also, langostinos are sometimes confused with Norway lobster, also called langoustines. In the US, the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

allows "langostino" to be used as a market name for three species of squat lobster in the family Galatheidae: '' Cervimunida johni'', '' Munida gregaria'', and '' Pleuroncodes monodon''. In Spain and Venezuela, it means some species of

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...

s. In Cuba and other Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands, the name langostino is also used to refer to

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

, which are freshwater species. 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 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 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

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 was revealed to have been using a mix of lobster and less-expensive langostino for its lobster bisque. A 2016 study of American restaurants tested the “lobster” served and found that many were in fact langostino or seafood that were not spiny lobsters.

References

External links

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