The colour of this spiny lobster is dark greenish purple with pale transverse bands on the posterior edge of the abdominal segments.

Its diet consists of slow moving prey such as molluscs, echinoderms, crustaceans and chitons, supplemented with fish carcases or other carrion.

[5] The larvae spend over a year as part of the plankton before settling on the seabed and undergoing metamorphosis into juveniles.

[5] Panulirus pascuensis is collected by hand or with a spear for human consumption on Easter and Pitcairn Islands.

[6] It is a traditional food of the Rapanui, the native Polynesian inhabitants of the island, and is represented on many rock engravings.