Abstract
The common spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas, Fabricius, 1787) is an iconic species of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the existence of dataon the artisanal fishery of P. elephas in the Mediterranean Sea and particularly in Corsica, knowledge on the biology and life history traits of thisiconic species is still lacking. This paper identifies the main gaps in current knowledge and suggests future directions of research to answer thesefundamental questions, which are currently unanswered.