Sea slater
The sea slater is a big flat woodlouse that lives on rocky seashores. It has long feelers and big eyes, and it is grey, brown or olive green. It is very quick and scuttles into cracks in the rocks as soon as you come near.
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Fun facts
It is the biggest member of the woodlouse group, up to 3.5 centimetres long.
Even though it lives by the sea, it breathes air and stays out of the water.
It hides in cracks during the day and comes out at night to eat.
Its feelers are two thirds as long as its whole body.
A baby sea slater is born with one pair of legs missing. It grows the last pair later.
Most asked questions about Sea slater
?Is a sea slater a bug?
It is not an insect. It is a crustacean, a cousin of crabs and woodlice, with 14 legs.
?Can sea slaters swim?
They live on the shore and breathe air, so they avoid going into the water.
?How big is a sea slater?
It is 2 to 3.5 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ligia oceanica
- Group
- Woodlice
- Family
- Ligiidae
- Classification
- Malacostraca > Isopoda > Ligiidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, North America
- Also known as
- Common sea slater, Sea roach
Where the facts come from
- Ligia oceanica (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by me'nthedogs. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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