#4549 · 🦀 crabs & other crustaceans
Wharf Louse
Ligia exotica
🦀 Crabs & other crustaceans 📍 outside Europe
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
Ligia exotica , also called sea roach or wharf roach is a woodlouse-like isopod, a sea slater in the family Ligiidae. It is found in various parts of the world living on rocky coasts and harbour walls just above high water mark.
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
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 8,478 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1828 (198 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Wharf Louse
- scientific name
- Ligia exotica
- class
- Malacostraca
- order
- Isopoda
- family
- Ligiidae
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 8,478
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1828
relatives· Ligiidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 121743, Wikidata Q1049222, GBIF 5175654, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.