Elegant Squat Lobster

Allogalathea elegans

Crustaceans
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth9–100 m
Water temperature21–29 °C
Best monthsApril, September, and November
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Gregor Bailar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Allogalathea elegans is a species of squat lobster; they are more closely related to hermit crabs than true lobsters. They are sometimes kept in marine aquariums.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Allogalathea elegans”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 30 records
February: 37 records
March: 61 records
April: 106 records
May: 48 records
June: 59 records
July: 35 records
August: 43 records
September: 68 records
October: 53 records
November: 67 records
December: 47 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 9–100 m · Deepest record: 1,113 m

0–10 m: 23 records
10–20 m: 46 records
20–30 m: 12 records
30–40 m: 7 records
40–50 m: 6 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 4 records
80–90 m: 3 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 5 records
110+ m: 8 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 21–29 °C

20–22 °C: 6 records
22–24 °C: 27 records
24–26 °C: 61 records
26–28 °C: 70 records
28–30 °C: 129 records

Photos

(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Micha Baum, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Bernie Wong, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Elegant Squat Lobster

Names in 5 more languages

Spanish: Langosta en cuclillas elegante
French: Galathée des comatules, Galathée des crinoïdes, Galathée des Crinoïdes (La), Galathée des comatules (La), Galathée élégante (La), Galathée élégante
Japanese: コマチコシオリエビ
Korean: 긴이마새우붙이
Simplified Chinese: 美麗異鎧蝦

Other scientific names: Galathea deflexifrons, Galathea elegans, Galathea grandirostris, Galathea longirostris

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
555 open-data records from 1848 to 2016.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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