In Greek mythology, Callianassa (The name comes from Calli- (from kallos), means "beauty" or "lovely" and Anassa, means "queen" or "lady" (the feminine form of anax, meaning lord or king).) was one of the 50 Nereids, sea-nymph daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris.Homer, Iliad 18.46; Hyginus, Fabulae PrefaceVollmer, Wilhelm. (1874). Wörterbuch der Mythologie. Stuttgart, p. 120.
Mythology Callianassa and her other sisters appeared to Thetis when she cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for his slain friend Patroclus.Homer, Iliad 18.39-51
Zoology The genus of mud shrimps Callianassa, as well as the Callianassidae family it belongs to, were named after the nereid.
Notes
References Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. . Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.