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- ›Water Striders
- ›Halobatinae
Sea Skaters
Halobates
Halobates, colloquially the sea skaters or ocean striders, are an insect genus with over 40 species of water striders. Most Halobates species are coastal and typically found in sheltered, coastal marine habitats (a habitat where a few other genera of water striders also live), but five live on the surface of the open ocean and only occur near the coast when storms blow them ashore. These are the only known truly oceanic, offshore insects. They are found in tropical and subtropical marine habitats around the world, with a single species recorded in rivers a few kilometers upstream from the ocean. Halobates are generally very abundant where they are found.
21 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Common Sea Skater
speciesHalobates micans
Japanese Sea Skater
speciesHalobates japonicus
Silvery Sea Skater
speciesHalobates sericeus
East Pacific Sea Skater
speciesHalobates sobrinus
Hawaiian Sea Skater
speciesHalobates hawaiiensis
Halobates matsumurai
speciesHalobates matsumurai
Familiar Sea Skater
speciesHalobates germanus
Zephyr Sea Skater
speciesHalobates zephyrus
Halobates hayanus
speciesHalobates hayanus
Seychelles Sea Skater
speciesHalobates alluaudi
Halobates herringi
speciesHalobates herringi
Halobates formidabilis
speciesHalobates formidabilis
Galapagos Sea Skater
speciesHalobates robustus
Splendid Sea Skater
speciesHalobates splendens
Regal Sea Skater
speciesHalobates regalis
Halobates sexualis
speciesHalobates sexualis
Halobates whiteleggei
speciesHalobates whiteleggei
Halobates elephanta
speciesHalobates elephanta
Hilliella
subgenusHilliella
Halobates melleus
speciesHalobates melleus
Halobates acherontis
speciesHalobates acherontis
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Halobates in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 125442.