Yo 405 wants to know: What adaptations do slipper lobsters have? And what do they eat? Are they scavengers?
Good questions Yo! For those of you not familiar with the slipper lobster here are a few illustrations from The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Atlantic:


As you can clearly see their main adaptation is super cuteness! They knew that if they evolved to be adorable that humans wouldn't consider them a major commercial fishery. Unfortunately, they sometimes get eaten anyway, usually pulled up with Carribean lobsters or caught in small number by recreational fishermen. And, Yo, you may be surprised to know that not all people are concerned with how cute or not their food is. To me, eating a slipper lobster would be like eating a puppy! I'd also feel bad eating octopuses and cuttlefish- Oh, the shame! (But keep in mind, I'm more than a little partial to certain marine invertebrates. Some people might even think me weird- can you believe it?)
Here's another illustration (LMR of the Western Central Pacific). This guy, however, not so cute. His adaptation is evil, scary, spikeness.

Anyway, REAL adaptations... Those things on front of the slipper lobsters sweet little face look a little like flattened claws but are really plate-like segmented ANTENNAE. In fact they do not have any claws at all (which of course adds to their adorableness). The slipper lobsters are benthic animals, that is, they roam around on the sea floor and, depending on the species, live on sandy, muddy or rocky substrates or in coral reef habitats. They use these flattened antennae to shovel through the mud or sand looking for food. They sometimes do scavenge on dead things but eat live critters too, like gastropods (snails), anemones, bi-valves and other invertebrates.
This next drawing from the Waikiki Aquarium's website (
http://www.waquarium.org/) gives you a good view of the slipper lobsters modified antennae and how dorso-ventrally flattened (think back squashed towards stomach) their bodies are. This is another adaptation, helpful in camouflaging the slipper lobster from predators (or prey) by flattening themselves against whatever surface they live on and allowing them to more easily wedge into tight crevices.

Hope that answered your questions, Yo! And by the way, the slipper lobsters belong to the decapod family Scyllaridae and guess what- and this is totally cool- the Greek word root SCYLL means "a dog, puppy"! Even the taxonomist who named the slipper lobsters thought they were cute like puppies! Yo, you're thinking "No way! For real?" And I have to answer "well, uh, sort of way" because the full Greek root of the slipper lobster's family name, SCYLLAR, means "a kind of crab". Oh, well, I tried to make it work.