Giant isopod

Giant isopods
Temporal range: Rupelian–Recent
Specimens of Bathynomus doederleinii (front) and B. kensleyi (behind)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Isopoda
Family: Cirolanidae
Genus: Bathynomus
A. Milne-Edwards, 1879

A giant isopod is any of the almost 20 species of large isopods in the genus Bathynomus. They are abundant in the cold, deep waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.[1][2] Bathynomus giganteus, the species upon which the generitype is based, is often considered the largest isopod in the world, though other comparably poorly known species of Bathynomus may reach a similar size (e.g., B. Kensleyi).[1] The giant isopods are noted for their resemblance to the much smaller common woodlouse (pill bug), to which they are related.[3]

French zoologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards was the first[4] to describe the genus in 1879[5] after his colleague Alexander Agassiz collected 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.[citation needed] No females were recovered until 1891.

Giant isopods are of little interest to most commercial fisheries, but are infamous for attacking and destroying fish caught in trawls.[6] Specimens caught in the Americas and Japan are sometimes seen in public aquariums.[3]

  1. ^ a b Lowry, J. K. and Dempsey, K. (2006). The giant deep-sea scavenger genus Bathynomus (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cirolanidae) in the Indo-West Pacific. In: Richer de Forges, B. and Justone, J.-L. (eds.), Résultats des Compagnes Musortom, vol. 24. Mémoires du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturalle, Tome 193: 163–192.
  2. ^ Mike Krumboltz (April 1, 2010). "Sea Creature Surfaces, Chaos Ensues". Yahoo! Canada News. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Giant Isopod". Aquarium of the Pacific. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference briones was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Milne-Edwards, A. (1879). "Sur un isopode gigantesque des grandes profondeurs de la mer" [On a giant isopod from the deep ocean]. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences (in French). 88: 21–23.
  6. ^ "Critter of the Week – Bathynomous giganteus, the giant sea slater". National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2017.