1) The Japanese spiny lobster(Ise-ebi) … grows up to 30 centimeters(12 in.) long and lives in the Pacific Ocean around Japan, Taiwan, China, and Korea. It is a popular item in high-class Japanese cuisine. (From WIKIPEDIA)
2) The Japanese spiny lobster is one of the auspicious items for the New Year Dishes. This kind of lobster has two long antennae and its back is not straight. People eat the lobster and hope to live until their backs are bent and they grow a long beard like Ise-ebi.
3) Haiku is a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables. Any dictionary of haiku classified by season words has the word, Ise-ebi, listed for the New Year. The word, Ise-ebi, is supposed to be used in haikus to celebrate the coming of the new year and the longevity of family members.