Chiridotea coeca
species of crustacean
Chiridotea coeca, the sand isopod, is a species of isopod crustacean found in the western Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to Florida.
Characteristics
Adult sand isopods are horizontally flattened. The thorax is almost round from above and the long, robust legs with large setae. The abdomen is short and pointed. Sand isopods reach 15 mm (0.59 in) in length and 7 mm (0.28 in) in width. They use the last pair of legs to dig tunnels in sand. When removed from the tunnels (for instance, by wave action), sand isopods swim down to the substrate, where they dig underground again.
Ecology
Chiridotea coeca feeds on carrion, which it holds with its gnathopods while chewing pieces off with its mandibles.
References
Further reading
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Volume 2 – Protostomes.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Chiridotea coeca” as species of crustacean. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of crustacean. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2477034. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chiridotea coeca” 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.