Bug FAQSand Piranha
Excirolana chiltoni · Order: Isopoda · Family: Cirolanidae
It grows to about 8 mm (0.31 in) long. It lives in warm tropical and subtropical shallow near-shore waters of the Pacific. It feeds on protein-rich material such as decaying animal carcasses that wash ashore.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
It is a scavenger that spends most of its life burrowed in sand on beaches.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
It grows to about 8 mm (0.31 in) long.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It lives in warm tropical and subtropical shallow near-shore waters of the Pacific.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It feeds on protein-rich material such as decaying animal carcasses that wash ashore.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range extends from Japan and Korea through South China to the Pacific Northwest of North America down to Chocó, Colombia.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 4 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon, Washington, Kansas.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Cirolanidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excirolana_chiltoni
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-27 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-27.