The movements of the Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) were studied in three subregions: (1) patch reefs, (2) forereef, and (3) outlier reef, in and around the Western Sambo Ecological Reserve (WSER) (Florida, USA) using acoustic tags and receivers. The studies took place from the June 2003 through July 2007 and involved various receiver deployments such as tracking grids and emigration rings designed to track relatively short daily movements and long-distance (>1km) movements. Daily movements were found to be highly repetitive in some individual lobsters in both the patch reef and the forereef. Some forereef lobsters shifted foraging preference between the forereef itself (63%), a shallow back reef area (10%), reef base (9%), and a deeper reef base area (4%), with undetermined making up the remainder. Approximately one-third of the patch reef resident lobsters exhibited significantly enhanced nocturnal movements during periods of low or no lunar illumination. Twenty-two nomadic movements were detected and occurred throughout the year and included individuals that moved between Western Sambo Ecological Reserve and the outlier reef south of the reserve. Lateral movements detected along the forereef were exhibited by only a few male lobsters. Reproductive migrations by reproductively active female lobsters were observed in all subregions. These movements are characterized by a sudden rapid southward move initiated near midnight. For patch reef and forereef females, the destination is deep water to the south of the forereef. Outlier reef females moved to deeper water to their south. Up to three reproductive migrations were conducted at a median interval of 25 days (16 multiple trips detected). With respect to one of WSER's stated management goals, i.e., to protect life histories, lobster movements have shown that the outlier reef subregion, located 1km south of the southern WSER border, is integral to the spiny lobster life history and should be considered for inclusion into WSER.