wildsingapore homepage
wildsingapore homepage
sitemap to the online guide
search | glossary


rocky shore index
  Online Guide to Chek Jawa
rocky shore
 
Sea slaters
Ligia sp.
Family Ligiidae
click for enlarged image
 
 
Sea slaters are sometimes called sea cockroaches, but they are not insects. They are crustaceans like crabs and prawns.

Super slater: Sea slaters have seven pairs of legs and move very fast! They have huge eyes and very long antennae. They are well adapted for life out of water, breathing air directly through 'pseudo-lungs'. In fact, they will drown if kept under water!

Slater food: Sea slaters are scavengers, nibbling on whatever recently died on the rocky shore. At low tide, they swarm over the rocks and shore looking for the recent dead.

Slater babies: Like many other crustacea, sea slaters can only mate just after the female moults. They brood their young in special pouches. The young are released as miniature adults instead of free-swimming larvae.		    
quick facts
About 2.5cm, common on the rocky shore

Classification:
Order Isopoda
Class Malacostraca
Subphylum Crustacea
Phylum Arthropoda
 
Other references
  • Barnes, Robert D. & Ruppert, Edward E., 1996. Invertebrate Zoology. Harcourt College Publishers. 6th Edition. pp. 1056, G-1-16, I-1-30.
  • Tan, Leo W. H. & Ng, Peter K. L., 1988. A Guide to Seashore Life. The Singapore Science Centre, Singapore. 160 pp. online version
  • Lim, S., P. Ng, L. Tan, & W. Y. Chin, 1994. Rhythm of the Sea: The Life and Times of Labrador Beach. Division of Biology, School of Science, Nanyang Technological University & Department of Zoology, the National University of Singapore. 160 pp.
  • Ng, Peter K. L. & N. Sivasothi, 1999. A Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore II (Animal Diversity). Singapore Science Centre. 168 pp. online version
  • Chuang, S. H., 1961. On Malayan Shores. Muwu Shosa, Singapore.225 pp., plates 1-112.
  • Davey, Keith, 1998. A Photographic Guide to Seashore Life of Australia. New Holland, Australia.144 pp.
 

a companion website to the chek jawa guidebook
website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com