Baltic Isopod

Idotea balthica

''Idotea balthica'' is a marine isopod which lives on seaweed and seagrass in the subtidal zone of rocky shores.
Marine Isopod - Idotea balthica I was watching a flock of birds eating things out of the water at low tide and crouched near them to see what they were feasting on. I scooped one of these creatures out of the water (there were TONS). I didn't know what it was at the time, but it didn't bite, at least. This species eats algae and has a very variable pattern. Habitat: Low tide zone on Laudholm beach. Laudholm is part of Wells National Estuarine Research Preserve. The preserve includes 2,250 acres of upland fields and forests, freshwater and estuarine wetlands, salt marshes, brackish marshes, scrub swamp, and a beach-and-dune system. The protected area goes from Little River to the Ogunquit River. The beach is enormous at low tide with lots of fun areas to explore for critters. It's also pretty empty as most people aren't willing to hike through the preserve to get to the beach. The beach is very variable with areas of coarse and fine sand, mudflats, boulders, and cobbles. It's an incredible place! https://www.jungledragon.com/image/99895/marine_isopod_-_idotea_balthica.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/110243/marine_isopod_-_idotea_balthica.html Geotagged,Idotea,Idotea balthica,Idoteidae,Isopoda,Malacostraca,Summer,United States,isopod,marine isopod

Appearance

The male is larger than female, and can reach 4 centimetres long. The carapace is yellow, brown or green with small white spots; the female is usually darker. The species can be distinguished from other idoteids by the shape of the telson, which is dorsally keeled with straight sides in ''I. balthica'', and has a distinct spine at the end.
Marine Isopod - Idotea balthica I was watching a flock of birds eating things out of the water at low tide and crouched near them to see what they were feasting on. I scooped one of these creatures out of the water (there were TONS). I didn't know what it was at the time, but it didn't bite, at least. This species eats algae and has a very variable pattern. Habitat: Low tide zone https://www.jungledragon.com/image/99895/marine_isopod_-_idotea_balthica.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/99893/marine_isopod_-_idotea_balthica.html Baltic Isopod,Geotagged,Idotea,Idotea balthica,Summer,United States,isopod,marine isopod

Distribution

''Idotea balthica'' has a broad geographical distribution, having been recorded from the Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone, The British Isles, Cobscook Bay, Dutch Exclusive Economic Zone, European waters, Greek Exclusive Economic Zone, Gulf of Maine, Knokke, North West Atlantic, Red Sea, Voordelta, West Coast of Norway, Wimereux and the Black Sea.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassMalacostraca
OrderIsopoda
FamilyIdoteidae
GenusIdotea
SpeciesI. balthica
Photographed in
United States of America