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Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide – Sea creatures and complete list

There’s a whole new subset of sealife to find

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An Animal Crossing character stands proudly over a tank of jellyfish Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
Julia Lee (she/her) is a guides producer, writing guides for games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Genshin Impact. She helped launch the Rift Herald in 2016.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons players can now go diving for new sea creatures.

Once you equip a Wet Suit, you can press A against the ocean to leap into it and swim. You can press A again once you’re in the water to swim around and press Y to pick up any critters you find. When you dive down, you’ll see bubbling shadows. Swim up to these to pick them up.

You’ll be able to find critters like Starfish and Oyster, along with Scallops. Finding a Scallop will summon Pascal, a red sea otter who will desire the delicious critter. He’ll give you DIY recipes for mermaid furniture in return.

These critters can be donated to the fish section of the Museum and have their own Critterpedia page on your Nook Phone. Like fish and bugs, certain sea critters only appear during certain seasons and times of the day. Sea creatures are a separate type of critter from fish, meaning that C.J. will not buy them from you nor will he turn them into models.

Check out our table below for info on when to find the critters.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons sea creature list

Critter # Sea Creature Value Time Month (Hemisphere)
Critter # Sea Creature Value Time Month (Hemisphere)
1 Seaweed 600 All day October-July (Northern) / April-January (Southern)
2 Sea grapes 900 All day June-September (Northern) / December-March (Southern)
3 Sea cucumber 500 All day November-April (Northern) / May-October (Southern)
4 Sea pig 10,000 4 p.m. - 9 a .m. November-February (Northern) / May-August (Southern)
5 Sea star 500 All day Year-round (Northern and Southern)
6 Sea urchin 1,700 All day May-September (Northern) / November-March (Southern)
7 Slate pencil urchin 2,000 4 p.m. - 9 a.m. May-September (Northern) / November-March (Southern)
8 Sea anemone 500 All day Year-round (Northern and Southern)
9 Moon jellyfish 600 All day July-September (Northern) / January-March (Southern)
10 Sea slug 600 All day Year-round (Northern and Southern)
11 Pearl oyster 2,800 All day Year-round (Northern and Southern)
12 Mussel 1,500 All day June-December (Northern) / December-June (Southern)
13 Oyster 1,100 All day September-February (Northern) / March-August (Southern)
14 Scallop 1,200 All day Year-round (Northern and Southern)
15 Whelk 1,000 All day Year-round (Northern and Southern)
16 Turban shell 1,000 All day March-May, September-December (Northern) / March-June, September-November (Southern)
17 Abalone 2,000 4 p.m. - 9 a.m. June-January (Northern) / December-July (Southern)
18 Gigas giant clam 15,000 All day May-September (Northern) / November-March (Southern)
19 Chambered nautilus 1,800 4 p.m. - 9 a.m. March-June, September-November (Northern) / September-December, March-May (Southern)
20 Octopus 1,200 All day Year-round (Northern and Southern)
21 Umbrella octopus 6,000 All day March-May, September-November (Northern and Southern)
22 Vampire squid 10,000 4 p.m. - 9 a.m. May-August (Northern) / November-February (Southern)
23 Firefly squid 1,400 9 p.m. - 4 a.m. March-June (Northern) / September-December (Southern)
24 Gazami crab 2,200 All day June-November (Northern) / December-May (Southern)
25 Dungeoness crab 1,900 All day November-May (Northern) / May-November (Southern)
26 Snow crab 6,000 All day November-April (Northern) / May-October (Southern)
27 Red king crab 8,000 All day November-March (Northern) / May-September (Southern)
28 Acorn barnacle 600 All day Year-round (Northern and Southern)
29 Spider crab 12,000 All day March-April (Northern) / September-October (Southern)
30 Tiger prawn 3,000 4 p.m. - 9 a.m. June-September (Northern) / December-March (Southern)
31 Sweet shrimp 1,400 4 p.m. - 9 a.m. September-February (Northern) / March-August (Southern)
32 Mantis shrimp 2,500 4 p.m. - 9 a.m. Year-round (Northern and Southern)
33 Spiny Lobster 5,000 9 p.m. - 4 a.m. October-December (Northern) / April-June (Southern)
34 Lobster 4,500 All day April-June, December-January (Northern) / October-December, June-July (Southern)
35 Giant isopod 12,000 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., 9 p.m. - 4 a.m. July-October (Northern) / January-April (Southern)
36 Horseshoe crab 2,500 9 p.m. - 4 a.m. July-September (Northern) / January-March (Southern)
37 Sea pineapple 1,500 All day April-August (Northern) / December-July (Southern)
38 Spotted garden eel 1,100 4 a.m. - 9 p.m. May-October (Northern) / November-April (Southern)
39 Flatworm 700 4 p.m. - 9 a.m. August-September (Northern) / February-March (Southern)
40 Venus' flower basket 5,000 All day October-February (Northern) / April-August (Southern)

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