We have begun exhibiting the "slipper lobster," a type of shrimp that resembles a cicada, which is rare in the Ibaraki Prefecture area.

On Friday, August 28, 2026, as summer vacation was drawing to a close, we received a call from local fishermen in Oarai Town, who regularly cooperate with us in obtaining exhibit animals, informing us that "a rare shrimp had been caught off the coast of the Naka River estuary." Our staff went to Oarai Fishing Port to check, and it turned out to be a slipper lobster, a species of shrimp rare in the Ibaraki Prefecture area, so we brought it to the aquarium.

The slipper lobster gets its name from its resemblance to a cicada. While most people picture a long, slender shrimp when they think of shrimp, the slipper lobster is round, flat, and has a heavy build. Other members of the same family include the sandal-shaped slipper lobster and the fan-shaped fan lobster, and the interesting names are a characteristic of this group. Its round eyes are also distinctive, and if you look closely at its face, you get the impression that it is a charming and cute creature.

While our aquarium has exhibited slipper lobsters before, the northernmost limit of their habitat is generally the Boso Peninsula, making this the first time we've exhibited slipper lobsters from local waters. Newly hatched slipper lobster larvae bear little resemblance to their adults and drift through the ocean. In Ibaraki Prefecture, these larvae may drift to our aquarium on ocean currents, but they are generally believed to die when the seawater temperature drops in winter. However, these slipper lobsters were about 18 cm long when brought in, suggesting they had lived in the waters off Ibaraki for several years.

　In this exhibition tank, "Oarai's Creature Collection," we are mainly displaying creatures collected by our staff from the rocky shores around Oarai. We hope that by displaying creatures that live in familiar places, we can provide an opportunity for everyone to think together about the changes in the sea and nature.