Rocinela oculata
Amazing fact
The Medama fish louse lives in the Kumano Sea, around Australia and along the Atlantic coast of America.
鳥羽水族館
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The Medama fish louse lives in the Kumano Sea, around Australia and along the Atlantic coast of America.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Rocinela oculata
- Scientific name
- Rocinela oculata
- Japanese name
- メダマウオノシラミ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Malacostraca
- Order
- Isopoda
- Family
- Aegidae
- Genus
- Rocinela
A member of the gusokumushi (aegid isopod) family, it clings to fish and sucks their body fluids.
When it is full, it lets go of the fish, drops to the seafloor and waits to digest its meal.
Basic data
- Diet
- Fish body fluids
- Range
- Atlantic coast of America, Australia, and Kumano-nada
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
- メダマウオノシラミ
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 — メダマウオノシラミChecked: 2026-11-04
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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