A New Isopod Was Just Discovered, and it is Giant
03:16 GMT 16.08.2022 (Updated: 10:42 GMT 21.04.2023)
CC BY-SA 2.0 / Nicholette Durkan, Steamboat Mountain School, CO / NOAA Teacher at Sea Program, NOAA Ship OSCAR DYSONA type of isopod, or as they are sometimes called, sea lice.
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Researchers estimate that there could be more than 700,000 marine species living in the ocean, including roughly 65,000 unknown species that have been collected but not yet identified or described. Roughly 226,000 ocean dwelling species have been both identified and described.
A new deep sea creature has been discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
The newly identified bathynomus yucatanensis is a giant isopod, a type of crustacean that scavenges for food on the ocean floor. It has a segmented body and fourteen legs, much like its smaller relatives, the terrestrial isopod crustacean, the woodlouse, also known as pillbug, roly-poly and dozens of other nicknames.
☆ fun marine biology news
— daily aquatic lovelies ༚.° (@aqualuvsuotd) August 10, 2022
researchers from taiwan, japan, and australia have discovered a new species of giant isopod ! the new species, Bathynomus yucatanensis, is now the 3rd species to be discovered in the gulf of mexico ! pic.twitter.com/sM7dd1nTUK
However, this new species is much larger. Woodlouses tend to be around 10mm long, or about 4/10ths of an inch. By contrast, the newly discovered bathynomus yucatanensis is about a foot long.
The increase in size is attributed to deep-sea gigantism, an evolutionary track that leads to larger versions of species, like the giant squid. The same phenomenon can happen in reverse, as some believe happened with the smaller Borneo elephant, also known as the Pygmy elephant and the prehistoric dwarf elephant.
Researchers from Taiwan, Japan and Australia described the new species and identified it as distinct from the bathynomus giganteus, a previously discovered giant isopod found in tropical regions of the Atlantic ocean.
They determined that this species has unique characteristics, including a yellow color and slender proportions. DNA also backed up their hypothesis that the new species is unique.
The researchers noted that there may be more discoveries to find on the ocean floor, including more giant isopods.