Now this is a pill bug...

Isopods of the genus Saduria are common nearshore animals in Arctic shores of Alaska.  Saduria entomon gets pretty big, this one is over 2 inches long.  We have a couple of species in Alaska including S. entomon and S. sibirica.

Sadurid isopopds are canivores and scavengers feeding opportunistically on anything they can find.

Here is a photo of the head. These are amazingly adaptive and resilient animals.  They survive in freezing conditions, low oxygen, little food, and in a wide range of habitats from gravel to mud.  Once, a student assistant was sorting a poorly preserved benthic sample and after ~6 months of preservation, he found a small Saduria swimming in the jar.  No other organisms were present indicating it ate everything else in the sample!   Talk about tough, it was surviving in a weak formalin solution, there would have been little oxygen, eventually, no food, and the animals it ate contained formalin as well.  I vote for these as being the tough guys of the Arctic.

Would you be afraid of this Alaskan predator?

The scaleworm Gattyana cirrhosa.


Scale worms are predatory marine worms common throughout Alaska's marine waters.  Their feeding habits are described for a few species that feed on smaller organisms, and it is presumed the others feed similarly.  Note the eye spots near the head and the bushy setae.  

The scaleworms are identified by the elytra (scales) that cover their backs.  The elytra often have distinct color patterns or growths (tubercules) on them, such as those shown here for G. cirrhosa.  The "horns" in this case grow along the edge of the scale.

The setae are characteristic to each species with this animal having very bushy setae throughout.

Scaleworms occur regularly in soft sediments throughout Alaska, presumably in association with their prey.  They are highly mobile and can get quite big, depending on the species. 

This particular animal was recently found in the Chukchi Sea.  It was about an inch in length total and was missing many scales and other parts due to  handling.