Elegant squat lobster
Amazing fact
The elegant squat lobster is more closely related to hermit crabs than to shrimps.
沖縄美ら海水族館
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The elegant squat lobster is more closely related to hermit crabs than to shrimps.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Elegant squat lobster
- Scientific name
- Allogalathea elegans
- Japanese name
- コマチコシオリエビ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Malacostraca
- Order
- Decapoda
- Family
- Galatheidae
- Genus
- Allogalathea
It lives in seas south of the Izu Peninsula and across the Indian Ocean and western Pacific.
Its colors differ depending on the feather star it lives on, so it comes in many color patterns.
How the Elegant squat lobster lives
During its larval stages, it lives as plankton drifting in the water. It feeds on the remains and waste of living things. It can be found in pairs on feather stars.
Western Australian MuseumBasic data
- Range
- South of the Izu Peninsula, Indian Ocean, and western Pacific
Where the Elegant squat lobster 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
- コマチコシオリエビ
- 简体中文
- 美丽异铠虾
- 繁體中文
- 美麗異鎧蝦
- 한국어
- 긴이마새우붙이
- Français
- Galathée des comatules
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 — コマチコシオリエビChecked: 2026-11-04
- 沖縄美ら海水族館 — コマチコシオリエビChecked: 2026-11-07
- Western Australian Museum — Crinoid squat lobster — Allogalathea elegansChecked: 2026-11-07
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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