Nature knowledge: Rainbow lobster. Tropical rock lobster (Panulirus ornatus) is a large spiny lobster with 11 larval stages. It migrates annually from the Torres Strait to Yule Island in the Gulf of Papua in order to breed. After the migration the sexes segregate by water depth. Males enter shallower water and females enter deeper water until the eggs have hatched. Female Panulirus ornatus produce up to three broods with a reduction in size of each subsequent brood.

There is no return migration of breeding adults. Reproductive migration across the Gulf of Papua occurs in order to disperse larvae in oceanic currents that favour their distribution near the Torres Strait. Dispersed throughout the eastern coast of Australia, Panulirus ornatus larvae must migrate as juveniles to the adult habitat in the northern Torres Strait. From there, they remain in specific reef complex for 1–2 years until they are of breeding age and undertake the annual mass migration to breed.