[2] Reef lobsters are small (depending on species, up to 10–13 centimetres or 4–5 inches), nocturnal (spending the day in caves or crevices), and very timid.

[2] As a result of their bright colours, they are popular in the aquarium trade, and unregulated collection combined with destruction of coral reefs may threaten some species.

Due to uncertainty over the impact of these potential threats, the majority are considered data deficient by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Males, unlike those of nephropoid lobsters, have an extra lobe on the second pleopod, which is assumed to have some function in reproduction.

[6] Although there is no fossil record of reef lobsters, there is some evidence that they may be related to the extinct genus Eryma which lived from the Permo-Triassic to the late Cretaceous.