#4466 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans
Water Hoglouse
🇳🇱 Gewone zoetwaterpissebed ·Asellus aquaticus
🦀 Crabs & other crustaceans 📍 in the Netherlands
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
Asellus aquaticus is a freshwater crustacean resembling a woodlouse. It is known by common names including "waterlouse", "aquatic sowbug" and "water hoglouse".
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 37 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #33 most seen of the crabs & other crustaceans in NL.
- 3,577 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Water Hoglouse
- Nederlands
- Gewone zoetwaterpissebed
- scientific name
- Asellus aquaticus
- class
- Malacostraca
- order
- Isopoda
- family
- Asellidae
- sightings in NL
- 37
- sightings in Europe
- 1,772
- sightings worldwide
- 3,577
- GBIF records in NL
- 31,040
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 434576, Wikidata Q586336, GBIF 2206247, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.