Long-term movement patterns of deep-water rock lobster Palinurus gilchristi were investigated off the south coast of South Africa using tag recapture data. Over a 12 yr period (1988 to 1999), 30 043 lobsters were tagged at 5 sites. From west to east, these were Cape Agulhas, West and East Agulhas Bank, Mossel Bay to Port Elizabeth, and Port Alfred. The overall recapture rate was 7.51%, with individuals remaining at large for up to 10.3 yr. Overall, 547 (25.8%) tagged lobsters of both sexes moved > 20 km within or between sites. We hypothesized that counter-current migration of juveniles would occur to redress downstream dispersal of phyllosoma larvae by the westerly flowing Agulhas Current. The vast majority of migrants (72.6%) did prove to be immature (carapace length < 72 mm) and did migrate eastwards against the prevailing flow of the Agulhas Current. The Cape Agulhas population (at the western extreme) comprised juveniles only. Over 97% migrated > 50 km, either southeastwards offshore to the West and East Agulhas Bank sites (106 lobsters, covering a mean distance of 154 km), or eastwards alongshore to the Mossel Bay to Port Elizabeth site near the center of the range (33 lobsters, 461 km). The fastest 5% of migrants moved at 0.43 to 0.78 km d -1