11 reasons why Sebastian is a crab and not a lobster 🦀🦞 (2023)

Ever wonder if Sebastian from The Little Mermaid is a crab or a lobster? I also did a while ago. But then I decided to dig a little deeper into this lobster controversy.

People have always wondered why Sebastian has that lobster-like appearance. And even Disney itself seemed a little confused at times. Even though they said that Sebastian is a crab, the Disney store sold a stuffed animal of Sebastian called "Sebastian the lobster" for a while. So what really is Sebastian from The Little Mermaid?

Sebastian is a crab and not a lobster because his physical characteristics such as the lack of lobster tail and antennae, his small size and his red color make him impossible to be a lobster. He, among others, even calls himself a crab in the movie The Little Mermaid.

There is actually a lot of evidence to support the claim that Sebastian is a crab. So here are 11 reasons why Sebastian is definitely a crab.

1. It doesn't have a lobster tail.

Taken together, though, the body shape looks quite different. The crab is more rounded while the lobster has a very elongated body, which brings us to the next point.

This is probably the most obvious difference between a crab and a lobster:the crab has no tail. And since Sebastian doesn't have a tail either, he can't be a lobster.

Other than that, crabs and lobsters also have something in common: they both have a shell and 5 pairs of legs, of which 4 are walking legs and the front one is pincers.

2. It does not have lobster antennae.

Crustaceans like crabs and lobsters usually have two pairs of antennae (also called "antennae") in front of their mouths, meaning they have 4 antennae: 2 short and 2 long.

In lobsters, the long pair is very prominent and large because they are necessary sensors for orientation in the murky environments they live in at the bottom of the ocean. They need them because they walk on the ocean floor at night in search of food. Their small antennae are also called antennules and are used for smelling.

As you can see in the picture, the lobster has very long antennae. But Sebastian has no visible antenna. Since antennae are so important to lobsters, it would be odd to leave them out of Sebastian's drawings.

Crabs, however, have very small antennae to begin with, and in some species they are so small that you cannot see them.

3. If it was a bright red lobster, it would be dead.

If Sebastian really were a lobster, his bright red color would be a serious cause for concern because lobsters only turn red when cooked.

They are normally greenish-brown or blue-green in color, as seen in the live lobster on the left side of the image. This helps them blend in with the ocean floor so predators can't find them as easily. On the right side, you can see what a lobster looks like when cooked.

This color change is caused by a pigment called astaxanthin found in the shells of lobsters and crabs. When they are alive, the pigment is stored within a membrane in the shell, but when they are cooked, the membrane breaks down in the heat and the red pigment is visible.

The point here is that it means Sebastian would be kind of a zombie lobster if he was such a bright red lobster.However, there are many natural red crabs., which means it can easily be turned into a bright red crab without having to cook it to get that complexion.

4. There are lobsters in The Little Mermaid, but they look different than Sebastian.

During the scene of Sebastian's song "Under the Sea" we see all kinds of fish and sea creatures joining in to sing. And there are even lobsters: one blue lobster and five regular brown lobsters.

How do I know it's lobsters? Take a look at the video below. As I described in points 1 and 2, lobsters have antennae and long tails, which crabs do not.

The blue lobster can be seen drumming at 0:51 and the brown lobsters can be seen singing and dancing at 2:39.

If you take a closer look at the blue lobster, you can very well see the difference for Sebastian when the two are shelling together. First of all, he is much bigger, probably three times as big as Sebastian.

Because of this, its claws are also much larger. It looks like a claw is almost as big as Sebastian. It can also be clearly seen that it has a long tail with many segments and long blue antennae.

Another difference is that the lobster has peeking eyes that protrude from its head, while Sebastian's eyes are fixed on its head.

But why is it blue? The blue coloring in some lobsters is actually caused by a very rare genetic defect. Due to this defect, they produce more of a certain protein than normal, which results in the blue color.

It is estimated that only one out of every two million lobsters is blue. Other rare colors include orange and yellow.

However, the other lobsters in the video are common brown lobsters. Except for the color, they look the same as blue.

It goes to show that Disney has definitely made a clear distinction between crabs and lobsters and that Sebastian is quite different from lobsters.

5. Caribbean Lobsters Don't Have Claws Like Sebastian

We know that Sebastian hails from the Caribbean, Jamaica to be exact. So if it was a lobster, it would probably be a Caribbean lobster.

But there is a small problem: Caribbean lobsters, also calledcaribbean lobster, they seem even more different to Sebastian than normal American or European lobsters. They havehuge horn-shaped antennae, as can be seen in the image, andthey don't even have front claws!

But since Sebastian has claws and no antennae, it can't be a Caribbean lobster.

Also, the color of the Caribbean lobster differs from most other lobsters. They have a reddish-brown shell covered in numerous dark, cream-colored spots. However, Sebastian is just red.

6. Lobsters don't live out of water.

In the film, we see Sebastian living in the ocean, but he also follows Ariel over land and to Prince Eric's castle, where he spends days out of the water. Therefore, he must be able to breathe both in water and on land.

Fullthere are no species of lobsters that can live on landalthough.They all live in water and can only survive on land for a while. for a short time if they stay in a cool, humid place where their gills can stay moist so they can extract some oxygen from the air into the water in their gills.

However, some crabs can live permanently on land.and some species of crabs are able to surviveboth on land and in waterfor long periods of time. However, they also need to keep their gills moist if they roam on land.

7. There are many species of red crabs living in the Caribbean.

So if Sebastian can't be a Caribbean lobster, he must be some kind of Caribbean crab that can live in water and on land, right? So let's take a quick look at the Caribbean crab species that are considered.

There is a red sea crab and a land red crab that live in and around Jamaica: thecaribbean crabit's himred land crab(like himGecarcinus ruricola). But both don't inhabit land as much as they inhabit the sea, and they don't look enough like Sebastian either, in my opinion.

HeThe Caribbean king crab, also called the Caribbean spider crab, has very long legs.it's himred land crab looks very dark. Another red crab is thecaribbean hermit crab. Some people believe that Sebastian might be one, but there's a catch.

Sebastian is not a Caribbean hermit crab because hermit crabs live in abandoned sea snails, but Sebastian does not carry a shell on his back. When hermit crabs are out of their shell, they too look more like lobsters with a vulnerable tail, but Sebastian has a normal crab body.

So what kind of crab is Sebastian?

However, there are two species of crabs that aresemiterrestre, that is, they live by the sea andthey are able to stand both in the ocean and on land.

A crab that lives on Caribbean beaches, including Jamaica, and reminds me of Sebastian is theghost crab(sometimes also called sand crab).

The ghost crabs aretiny red or yellowish semi-terrestrial crabsThey got their name because they are nocturnal and can disappear into the deep burrows in the sand they dig on beaches, like little ghosts.

They can live on land and in water, but they cannot stay in water for long. The only thing different from Sebastian is that ghost crabs have lurking eyes. But overall, I think these tiny crabs look a lot like him.

Hesecond semi-terrestrial crab is theCangrejo Sally Lightfootwhich is also calledred crab.

Your appearance and yourdance talentIn fact, he reminds me a lot of Sebastian. This crab lives by the sea where it is often seen leaping through the shallows like a ballerina (hence its name) to escape predators such as moray eels. You can watch a video of them dancing in the water.here on youtube.

They are more like a water crab, but have adapted to be able to breathe on land as well, retaining water in their shell and squirting water over their gills from time to time. Therefore, they can easily spend a lot of time on land, such as on the rocks they feed on.

In fact, he doesn't live in Jamaica directly, but in theGalapagos Islands and the west coast of Central and South America.But it could be argued that the west coast of Central America is actuallyvery close to jamaica.

In fact, the distance from the Panama Canal, which they may have to cross, to Jamaica is equivalent to an hour's air travel. It would certainly be manageable for Sebastian and his family to swim such a short distance if he could swim to Europe or Trinidad, where he went to college according to The Little Mermaid series. would be a piece ofcrabpastel!

So in conclusion:

Sebastian is most likely a ghost crab or a Sally Lightfoot crab. Both live in the Caribbean, like Jamaica, or very close. It's also possible that Disney combined traits from these or other crab species, as they are known to be inspired to create their own kind of fictional character.

8. It's so small it fits in Ariel's hands

Crabs are much smaller than lobsters, at least most of them are. When Ariel regains her legs and consequently Sebastian has a minor mental breakdown, she picks him up. You can see how small it looks in her hands.

In the following video you can see what I mean (at 3:53 min).

The same thing happens when King Triton and Chef Louis get their hands on it. At 6:37, Sebastian can also be seen next to a hairbrush. He looks so small!

Now, imagine holding a lobster in your hands like this. It simply would not be possible because lobsters are very long and large.

9. Chef Louis calls it “juicy crab”.

When Sebastian is in Chef Louis's kitchen, the chef sees him and has the dangerous idea of ​​adding him to the dish he is making.

The moment she finds Sebastian, she sings."Sacre bleu, what is this? How the hell could I misssuch a sweet and juicy crab“and throws it in a bowl with sauce.

Click on the video to see this part of the kitchen scene (at 1:00 min).

Chef Louis is obviously referring to Sebastian's succulent crab meat, which actually looks pretty scary. But what this scene shows us is that a professional cook can classify Sebastian as a crab in a split second. And Louis certainly knows the difference between a crab and a lobster.

10. He calls his parents “Mr. and Mrs. Krabs”

In the second episode of season 3 called "King Crab", his parents visit him, after he wrote several letters in which he bragged about his important work making them believe that he is the king of Atlantica. When they arrive, he introduces them to Ariel and the others by saying the following:

"Hi everyone, I'd like you to meet my mom and dad,Mr. and Mrs. Crab.”

There are a few more times in the series where it becomes clear that Sebastian is a crab. For example, in Season 2 Episode 7 called "Tail of Two Crabs", he meets his old arch-rival: another crab named Zeus, who calls himself the "Crab of the Year".

11. Sebastian says he's a crab.

Sebastian actually refers to himself as a crab in the movie. Right after Ariel gets her legs, Sebastian becomes upset and complains about how King Triton will react to this news. It is then that he says the following:

“This is a catastrophe! What would your father say? I'll tell you what your father would say,he said he was going to kill a crabThat's what your father would say! I'll go straight home right now and tell him what he should have done then... and don't shake your head, young lady.“

you can see the scenehere.

ThenSebastian basically refers to himself as a crab., saying that King Triton will kill him (the crab) if he finds out what happened to Ariel.

12. Disney says it's a crab.

Even Disney has stated on the Disney website and elsewhere that he is a crab.

Conclusion – What is Sebastian from The Little Mermaid?

At first I thought it might be a lobster. But after finding all these clues, I think it's pretty obvious that Sebastian has to be a crab.

Hethe reason it looks a bit like a lobster is probably because its head is a bit elongatedwhich looks more like a lobster than a trace of a crab at first glance.

But try to imagine him with a flat face like a real crab. There would be no place for herFacial expressionsat all, or your teeth!

So it makes sense that Sebastian, like the anthropomorphic (humanized) crab that he is, was given a somewhat human face by Disney so that he could sing and express himself more freely. If you keep that in mind, I think it's pretty easy to see yourtemperamental.