# Crustacean ID?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 14, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417 "2009-03-14T14:55:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/1 "2009-03-14T14:55:59Z")
If anyone is in the mood to play, help me ID [this thing](http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/8626/imgp0298dj7.jpg). I found it in a kelp bed along the shores of Santa Barbara.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/2 "2009-03-14T15:19:51Z")
Looks like a prawn to me.
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### Author:  [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/3 "2009-03-14T16:09:38Z")
No authority, and by no means sure. But lobster go through something like 18 stages as they grow. This could be one of the early stages. (ours in CA don’t have cloppers)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/4 "2009-03-14T16:41:06Z")
> [@cormac262](#):
>
> (ours in CA don’t have cloppers)
And they taste better than Eastern ones.
I’m trying to find images of lobsters’ early stages.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/5 "2009-03-14T16:47:26Z")
[These lobster larvae](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&num=100&q=lobster%20larva&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi) don’t look like the photo in the OP.
The OP pic does look a bit like a lobster, and maybe it’s a different stage; but I’m thinking it’s something else.
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### Author:  [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/6 "2009-03-14T17:04:04Z")
It looks like a kelp isopod. Isopods are crustaceans, yet include our friend the woodlouse, or roly-poly bug.
The mug shots:
[http://emeralddiving.com/id\_other\_inverts.html](http://emeralddiving.com/id_other_inverts.html)
[http://www.seaotter.com/marine/research/idotea/wosnesenskii/html/wosnesenskii.jpg.html](http://www.seaotter.com/marine/research/idotea/wosnesenskii/html/wosnesenskii.jpg.html)
The info:
> **[Isopoda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopod)**
>
> Isopoda is an order of crustacean, which includes woodlice and their relatives. Members of this group are called Isopods and include both terrestrial and marine species. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and five pairs of branching appendages on the abdomen that are used in respiration. Females brood their young in a pouch under their thorax.
> Isopods have various feeding methods: some eat dead or decaying plant and an...
[http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Isopoda&contgroup=Peracarida](http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Isopoda&contgroup=Peracarida)
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### Author:  [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/7 "2009-03-14T22:20:21Z")
**tr0psn4j** , I ought to mention that I did my PhD in Oceanography at UC Santa Barbara, although now I live in Canada. Now I’m getting all nostalgic. How’s the surf?
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### Author:  [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/8 "2009-03-14T23:32:17Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#):
>
> **tr0psn4j** , I ought to mention that I did my PhD in Oceanography at UC Santa Barbara, although now I live in Canada. Now I’m getting all nostalgic. How’s the surf?
Oh so you probably know the area pretty well. That was found near the bird sanctuary which is in front of Sand Piper Golf Course. I believe that’s Haskall’s beach but I’m not sure about it.
As far as the surf goes, I can’t tell you much other than Goleta almost always sucks. I spend my beach time fishing rather than surfing. I was out on my friend’s boat that day.
Goleta is a lot of fun though. Here are a few pics of me fishing in Santa Barbara for your nostalgia’s sake.
[Pic 1 (I’m wading out with a dolphin in the background)](http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r135/Wingnut32566/Wingnut2/Picture053.jpg)
[Pic 2 (Neck deep in water)](http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r135/Wingnut32566/Wingnut2/Picture065.jpg)
We had some sort of Seal sitting on kelp looking at as all funny that day too. That was May of '08, I need to make another trip up that way soon.
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### Author:  [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/9 "2009-03-14T23:35:15Z")
Oh and I might as well mention I’ve seen a bunch of “ticks” (atleast that’s what I call 'em) on lingcods in the area but they’re grey and actually do look like an isopod.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/10 "2009-03-15T12:55:12Z")
I guess the crustacean is IDed enough to buy beer. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crustacean-id/489417/11 "2009-03-15T23:25:36Z")
I think they prefer liquor. The last restaurant I was in had a cocktail just for them right on the menu!