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Sticker of Cinereous seaslater
Bug card No. 0899 of 4,939

Cinereous seaslater

Ligia cinerascens
Name means: “ashy, after its grey colour”
Eats: Leftovers and dead thingsWoodlicePonds, rivers and shores14 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The cinereous seaslater is a woodlouse that lives by the sea. It is grey all over and has a bumpy, grainy back. You can find it on the coasts of northern Japan and nearby Russia.

Fun fact: woodlice are not insects. They are crustaceans, cousins of crabs and shrimps, that live on land.
Lives in
Coasts of northern Japan and nearby Russia
Top speed
about 0.15 km/h (0.09 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Like other sea slaters, it nibbles bits of dead plants and seaweed on the shore.
For real!Photo of Cinereous seaslater
Picture by A. C. Tatarinov. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

In the wild it usually lives about a year, but sometimes up to two and a half years.

2

A mother carries her babies for five months in her first year, then usually dies before her second winter.

3

A tiny mite sometimes holds on under its body and rides along.

4

The scientist who first collected it on a long sea voyage later forgot whether it came from Japan, Manila or Chile.

you asked

Most asked questions about Cinereous seaslater

?What is a seaslater?

A seaslater is a woodlouse that lives on seashores instead of in gardens.

?Where does the cinereous seaslater live?

On the coasts of Japan, mostly Hokkaido and Tokyo Bay, and on nearby Russian shores.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Ligia cinerascens
Group
Woodlice
Family
Ligiidae
Classification
Malacostraca > Isopoda > Ligiidae
Lives on
Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Ligia cinerascens (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by A. C. Tatarinov. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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More from the same group: Woodlice

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores

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