Giant (Sea) Woodlice Arrive in Britain for First Time

The Telegraph ^ | 22 Dec 2008 | Sarah Knapton

[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.

[valkyry1]

Guess there wont be arguments with him

[valkyry1]

Someone will try it out, and next thing you know new delicacy at $6000 per lb

[SunkenCiv]

> Isopods have been unchanged for 160 million years

They must be sick of living in their own pile of isopoop after that length of time.

[csvset]

Would you cook that in butter? Steam it?

[Darksheare]

Trilobite on parsley with garlic.

[Private_Sector_Does_It_Better]

Can someone post a picture of James Caravelle next to this? The resemblance is uncanny.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Hate to contract a case of THOSE crabs.

[autumnraine]

Didn’t they design one of them alien movie monsters from that creature.

Ugh, I am going to have nightmares!

[Dysart]

These critters are obviously inspired by

[robomatik]

[BerryDingle]

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.

Exactly. I was thinking they would explode like Bill Clinton by the time they got up to one thousand feet.

[aShepard]

Yummi!

Pre-prepared (previously frozen) lobster claw meat on your way to the table

Yummy!

[ccmay]

There is a similar critter caught on the east coast of Australia, called a Moreton Bay Bug, that is an exceptionally tasty morsel.

[ccmay]

There is a similar critter caught on the east coast of Australia, called a Moreton Bay Bug, that is an exceptionally tasty morsel.

[Private_Sector_Does_It_Better]

LOL!!!!!!!!!

Perfect!

[SIDENET]

Did that come off of Amy Winehouse?

LOL!!!

[Aliska]

I keep getting outages so bear with me. I thought after I posted, that their bodies may be different, no lungs or air cavities, guess I don't know enough about them or how the bends works. I thought it was pressure in the body that when too quickly reduced causes great pain and possibly exploding or rupturing like you said.

It seems logical that even though they usually stay at the bottom of the sea (real bottom feeders there), they must rise to the surface or to a depth where they could get trapped in a fisherman's net. I doubt fish feed on them and don't know if there are any natural predators. Kind of creepy things but look somewhat like crabs.

[gost2]

ASTOUNDING!

[Professional Engineer]

Bugs!

[TigersEye]

It is amazing how similar they look to microscopic dust mites.