Giant Isopod
Bathynomus giganteus · Crustacean
A giant isopod of the deep sea floor, a distant relative of shrimps and crabs, usually 19 to 36 cm long and up to about 50 cm, with large compound eyes of over 4,000 facets that seem to glow when light strikes them. It lives in cold water 310 to 2,140 m deep in the western Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, scavenging the dead animals that sink to the bottom. It was first found in 1879 in fishermen's nets off the Dry Tortugas; it is not fished, but related giant isopods are boiled and served with rice in a few seaside restaurants of northern Taiwan.
- Danger
- Harmless
- How it is met
- Alone, day and night
- Size
- Small
- In winter
- Active in winter
Where it lives
Sources
Open it in Biomes — MGS Toolbox