Posted on 01/14/2025 11:37:50 AM PST by Red Badger
Dun, dun, dun, dah da-dunn, dah da-dunn.
Image credit: Nguyen Thanh Son
Scientists working at a crustacean laboratory in Singapore have discovered a new-to-science species of “supergiant” isopod, and it’s an absolute wedge. Known as bọ biển or “sea bugs” in Vietnam, its angular noggin has inspired an out-of-this-world species name: Bathynomus vaderi, after everyone’s favorite absent father figure, Darth Vader.
B. vaderi is part of the genus of giant isopods called Bathynomus, a group that can reach over 30 centimeters in length and look like overgrown versions of our terrestrial pill bugs, or woodlice. This new-to-science species takes the supersizing one step further, however, belonging to a more exclusive group nicknamed the “supergiants”.
Its measurements reach up to 32.5 centimeters (12.8 inches) in length, and it weighs over a kilogram (2.2 pounds). Easy to spot, you might think, but it’s so far only been documented off the Spratly Islands in Vietnam. However, it’s possible further research could reveal these supergiants are elsewhere in the South China Sea.
Supergiant seems about right when you see a photo of a human being holding one of these isopods like a newborn photoshoot. While the positioning in the image below may slightly lean into the false perspective phenomenon, you can see from the human’s hands versus the bulk of sea bug that is the supergiant Bathynomus jamesi, that they are, indeed, absolute beasts.
Dr Nguyen Thanh Son holding another species of supergiant from Vietnam (B. jamesi) that weighed a whopping 2.62 kg from a seafood market in Hanoi in October 2024. Image credit: Peter Ng Impressive size aside, it was actually B. vaderi's angular head that inspired its species name. Closely resembling the iconic helmet of wheezy old Darth Vader, the most famous Sith Lord of Star Wars, it’s a fitting comparison for the daddy of all isopods.
However, another less fortunate nickname for giant isopods like B. vaderi is the “king of seafood”. Described as being even more delicious than lobster, its popularity as a menu item has boomed in recent years due to media attention and trends on socials, and they’ve gone from only being sold as bycatch to being the focus of commercial trawling. Spotting live isopods for sale in seafood markets in major cities has become commonplace, which is actually how this new-to-science species got named.
VIDEO AT LINK..................
Two giant isopods purchased from Quy Nhơn City were sent to Peter Ng from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum who runs the crustacean laboratory in Singapore. In 2023, he and his team realized they were housing a giant species that had never been described. A particularly remarkable finding given the size and strangeness of B. vaderi, and the researchers urge this highlights how much work there is still to be done to find out what is living in Southeast Asian waters.
We’ve tracked down Darth Vader, now where’s wrinkly old Palpatine?
The study is published in the journal ZooKeys.
Good eats?
No surprise there.
Garlic butter awaits.
“It takes two hands to handle a Whopper!”
Here is a recipe for the critters. Isopod Fried Rice...
https://youtu.be/54m4SDJiL6U?si=ub5eeaL5xVhpx5kE
Though I know shrimp are sea bugs, (which I probably would never have eaten had I seen them in their live state first) and I like shrimp, I don’t think I would ever eat one of these giant bugs. I’m notoriously uninterested (is that oxymoronic?) in exploring exotic food.
Sign me up!
Bo bien, bayyy-beee...
Get out the good butter!
When I was in VietNam in 2004, I tried giant mantris shrimp... and that stole the title for me, "better than lobster".
So therefore, I will not reflexively doubt this claim, and may have to actually try it. Hmm.
That just looks unappealing to me as well.
from a seafood market in Hanoi
No surprise there.
It seems indigenous people will eat anything. (for which I do not blame them; they eat whatever they can, in order to live). I once saw a PBS documentary which showed an otherwise modern woman eating a preparation of black flies cooked in banana leaves; she pronounced them delicious. The same film showed Mexican peasants on nocturnal fieldmice hunts; they readily caught hundreds of them and looked forward to feasting on them.
I know, as Christians, we no longer are responsible for following the Mosaic dietary laws, but I can’t help but think that part of God’s reason for instituting them was health-based.
So it's not surprising we'll eat just about anything, especially since we can cook things to make the otherwise inedible edible and more easily extract the calories.
Cooking is the main reason we don't need to spend almost every waking hour eating.
A lot of things that ugly are pretty yummy...have they tried it?
A lot of things that ugly are pretty yummy...have they tried it?
12.5 inches and 2.2 pounds...............
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.