Giant Pod Attacks ROV Sub!

The Sub-sea Survey Company recently got a big surprise: this giant 2.5 foot isopod attached to one of their ROV subs! They are unsure exactly where this beast came from, but they speculate it was from somewhere below 8500 feet in the water. This isopod is a Bathynomus giganteus and feeds on 'dead whales, fish and squid.' And unsuccessfully on ROVs. RIP big guy.


Bathynomus giganteus - Credit: Fox

A giant isopod may be one of approximately nine species of large isopods (crustaceans related to the shrimp and crabs) in the genus Bathynomus. They are thought to be abundant in cold, deep waters of the Atlantic.[citation needed] Bathynomus giganteus, the species upon which the generitype is based, is the largest known isopod and is the one most often referred to by the common name "giant isopod".

French zoologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards was the first[1] to describe the genus in 1879[2] after fishing a juvenile male B. giganteus from the Gulf of Mexico; this was an exciting discovery for both scientists and the public, as at the time the idea of a lifeless or "azoic" deep ocean had only recently been refuted by the work of Sir Charles Wyville Thomson and others. Females were not recovered until 1891.

Giant isopods are of little interest to most commercial fisheries owing to the typical scarcity of catches and because ensnared isopods are usually scavenged beyond marketability before they are recovered. However, in northern Taiwan and other areas, they are not uncommon at seaside restaurants, served boiled and bisected with a clean lateral slice. The white meat, similar to crab or lobster in texture, is then easily removed. The species are noted for resemblance to the common woodlouse or pill bug, with which they are related. The few specimens caught in the Americas with baited traps are sometimes seen in public aquaria.
From Giant isopod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source:
FOXNews.com - Terrifying Sea Critter Hauled from Ocean's Depths

 

Imagine on of those as a LR hitchhiker.
What mantis shrimp??

 

I saw that article - talk about a hitchhiker! I wonder when ReefCleaners might start offering those on their site?

 

I suddenly feel very very itchy.

 

wowzers, that thing looks fake, I am going to check my LR for one of these, could be living in my closet by now

 

That thing is huge! Some stuff in the ocean really creeps me out.

 

Wonder how it would taste steamed and dipped in butter. "Throw another iso on the barbi"

 

lol, that thing is wicked!

 

Check out the face on this big guy:
FOXNews.com - Sea Monster or Giant Crustacean?

Reminds me of 'Alien VS Predator!' ;D

 

Those things are massive. I remember them talking about them and had video of them devouring a whale on either Planet Earth or Wild Pacific, one of those Discovery nature series.