Venus' flower basket
Amazing fact
Shrimp that enter a Venus’ flower basket can grow too large to get back out.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Shrimp that enter a Venus’ flower basket can grow too large to get back out.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Venus' flower basket
- Scientific name
- Euplectella aspergillum
- Japanese name
- カイロウドウケツ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Hexactinellida
- Order
- Lyssacinosida
- Family
- Euplectellidae
- Genus
- Euplectella
Where the name “Venus' flower basket” comes from
Kairou-douketsu means growing old together and being buried in the same grave after death.
鳥羽水族館It has a fine skeleton that seems made of glass, and it is also called "Venus' flower basket."
Doketsu shrimp often live inside it, and that is where its Japanese name comes from.
How the Venus' flower basket lives
It stays attached to rocky areas in the deep sea. Cells inside its body move whip-like strands to make water flow through it. It filters tiny organisms and organic debris from the water flowing through its body for food.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Range
- South of Sagami Bay
Where the Venus' flower basket has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- カイロウドウケツ
- 简体中文
- 阿氏偕老同穴
- 繁體中文
- 阿氏偕老同穴
- 한국어
- 해로동혈
- Español
- Cesta de flores de Venus
- Deutsch
- Gießkannenschwamm
- Italiano
- Cestello di Venere
- Русский
- Корзинка Венеры
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — カイロウドウケツChecked: 2026-11-04
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Euplectella aspergillumChecked: 2026-11-05
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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