Thenus
species of crustacean
Thenus orientalis is a species of slipper lobster from the Indian and Pacific oceans.
T. orientalis is known by a number of common names. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization prefers the name flathead lobster, while in Australia, it is more widely known as the Moreton Bay bug (often shortened to just bug) after Moreton Bay, Brisbane, Queensland. In Singapore, both the flathead lobster and true crayfish are called crayfish. They are used in many Singaporean dishes. The species is sometimes confused with the Balmain bug (Ibacus peronii) but it can be distinguished by the placement of the eyes: the eyes of I. peronii are near the midline, while those of T. orientalis are at the margin of the carapace.
T. orientalis has a strongly depressed body and grows to a maximum body length of 25 centimetres (9.8 in), or a carapace length of 8 cm (3.1 in).
Thenus orientalis has an Indo-West Pacific distribution, ranging from the east coast of Africa (southern Red Sea, to Natal) to China including the Persian Gulf, southern Japan, the Philippines and along the northern coast of Australia from Western Australia to Queensland. They are also caught on a small scale off the shores of Malaysia and Singapore.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Thenus” is species of crustacean. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Thenus, species and crustacean, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “species of crustacean” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3089892. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thenus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.