What an ugly mofo.
Posted on 12/23/2008 3:47:08 PM PST by nickcarraway
The one foot long Giant Isopods live up to 6,000ft down on the seabed where there is no light.
In the pitch black and cold they survive by feasting on dead and decaying fish and other marine animals.
Isopods have been unchanged for 160 million years and the creatures are sure to be popular attractions when they go on display.
Experts at the UK's Sea Life Centre parks organised for nine of them to be transported from the US where they had been caught in lobster nets in the Atlantic.
Each was individually wrapped in wet hessian and newspaper before being packed into a box of ice.
They were then flown thousands of miles to London before being transported by truck to the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, Dorset.
The nine Isopods - Bathynonomous giganteus in Latin - will spend time in quarantine before going on display in large dark tanks in Blackpool.
Special reflective glass will give the giant creepy crawlies the feeling they are deep at the bottom of the sea, while still allowing spectators to peer in.
Chris Brown, a marine biologist who is looking after the Isopods in Weymouth, said they have adjusted well to their new environment.
He said: "Isopods live on the seabed at great depths.
"There are lots of them down at the bottom of the sea but because of the depths they live at, they rarely turn up in fishing nets or lobster pots.
"They are scavengers which feed on the carcasses of dead fish and other creatures. They are doing a very good clean-up job.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Oh great — monster sea-lice of the deep.
What an ugly mofo.
Giant lice or mites, interesting, thanks.
Did that come off of Amy Winehouse?
You’d think they’d get the bends. Plus putting them in a dark tank with little pressure, wonder how that would affect them. Evidently so far, so good, but that would indicate incredibly rapid adaptation.
Looks like Rahm wearing a helmet.
There's a German call-girl joke in there somewhere.
Heh heh
I wonder if they taste like lobster.
Family get-together for the holidays.
Perhaps we can recruit a few to clean up our cesspool, Washington D.C
Just add garlic butter and lemon. Mmmmm....sea lice.
I’ll eat one. It probably tastes pretty good.
Feed on the carcasses of dead fish...
Am I the only one who thinks having some dead, stinkin fish around might be a better deal???
Dayum!! Them are some nasty arthropods (or whatever they are!!!)
Lobster with no claw, excellent!
pissa. that’s all we need.
Can it be steamed and served with drawn butter?
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