I would like to know if someone could solve me a doubt I haven’t been able to find info about. I found this on the beach (in Crete) and in a rock area it was underwater. I was curious and I grab it and I saw that it could walk indistinctly out of the water and under without any apparent problem. I found this impressive and couldn’t find any info about it, thank you.
Your picture hasn’t appeared. Maybe best if you post your photo as an observation rather than ask in this forum. I’ll guess it is Ligia.
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Based on your description you might have seen Ligia italica, which is not an insect bug but an isopod living on rocks above and under water.
Isopods have more than three pairs of legs like in insects. And they’re always in proximity to the water (in this case the coast).
This isopod is a member of Crustacea and therefore more related to crabs than insects.
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https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/293687833
Does it look like this? If so, it might be an isopod. Even though they look like bugs, they have more pairs of legs (at least that’s what I know) than insects.
It might be an Italian Sea Slater, like @greek_cicada_project said.
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There are numerous bugs and beetles with an aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/aquatic-and-subaquatic-hemiptera
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/aquatic-and-subaquatic-beetles
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But not many in seawater.
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Pillbugs aren’t aqautic though
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There’s the giant isopods which live on the sea floor?
Antonte has posted it as an observation but used a photo from Wikipedia, so I don’t think we are going to be able to establish what it was. If it was Graphosoma which had fallen in a rock pool, it isn’t surprising that it walked out. It would be more surprising if it walked back in.
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There are loads of marine isopods, many about the size of their terrestrial counterparts, and a decent amount that can curl up like pillbugs (for example Sphaeromatidae which often live on rocky shores).
I agree with jhbratton that it would be very surprising for a Graphosoma to deliberately go into the water. They’re a terrestrial taxon and can usually be found on the flowers of Apiaceae.
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Yes but it sounded like they said all isopods are aquatic
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Im sure it was that one or a very similar species. What surprised me the most was that it was like chilling underwater on a rock and when I took it out it started to walk normally. I decided to put it underwater again and it continued to walk on my finger, something that made me get astonished.I dont know if they have a mechanism to retain air to breath or it was another similar species maybe, thank you all for your help anyways.
Most land insects will survive for a while in water. Their spiracles are narrow and the air doesn’t immediately bubble out. And some have a coating of hairs that hold a bubble cloak around them.